The Delhi High Court has set aside the Indian government’s decision to award the contract for passport, visa and consular services in the United Arab Emirates to Alhind Tours & Travels, creating fresh uncertainty over the transition of services for millions of Indian expatriates.
The decision comes after legal challenges from unsuccessful bidders delayed the planned handover from existing service providers BLS International and SGIVS Global. The transition was originally scheduled to begin on July 1 but was put on hold after the Supreme Court directed that the status quo be maintained until the Delhi High Court completed its review of the tender process.
Kerala-based Alhind Tours & Travels had secured the contract through a competitive bidding process to manage a wide range of consular services, including passport applications, visa processing, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) services, Police Clearance Certificates (PCC), document attestation and other related services across the UAE.
In preparation for the transition, the company had established 16 Indian Consular Application Centres across all seven emirates.
The legal challenge focused on the technical evaluation stage of the tender process. Two unsuccessful bidders argued that they had been disqualified without sufficient transparency or adequate explanation regarding their technical evaluation scores. The court’s decision effectively nullifies the contract awarded to Alhind.
Since the contracts of BLS International and SGIVS Global expired on June 30, the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General of India in Dubai have been providing essential passport, visa, attestation and other consular services directly through temporary walk-in arrangements.
With the contract now cancelled, the future outsourcing of Indian consular services in the UAE remains uncertain until the government decides on the next course of action.
