KATHMANDU, JULY 15
Nepal's Supreme Court on Monday refused to issue an interim order to halt the government's plan to award a $55 million e-passport contract to two German firms, allowing the contested procurement process to move forward despite allegations of irregularities and favoritism.
The decision comes in response to a petition filed by advocate Kusum Kishor Koirala, who had urged the court to stop the Department of Passport from signing an agreement with Germany-based Muehlbauer and Veridos. The petition claimed that Nepal's Security Printing Center should instead handle the project.
A joint bench of Justices Hari Prasad Phuyal and Tek Prasad Dhungana ruled there was insufficient reason to interrupt the process, clearing the way for the contract to proceed.
At the center of the dispute is a public tender for the supply, delivery, and personalization of 6.4 million biometric passports. French technology firm IDEMIA, which lost the bid, was not a direct party to the case, but legal representatives for the winning firms suggested the litigation was intended to undermine the result.
"This is not public interest litigation-it is private interest litigation in disguise," senior advocate Sushil Pant told the court, describing the challenge as an attempt to sabotage a transparent procurement process. He noted that the German consortium's bid was over $12 million cheaper than IDEMIA's.
The government was represented by Deputy Attorney General Dr. Tek Ghimire, whose appearance signaled the administration's determination to conclude the procurement without further delay. Officials have warned that any disruption to the process could hinder the delivery of passports to citizens, a service that has already faced backlogs and complaints.
Opponents of the petition also questioned the capacity of the Security Printing Center, the state-owned facility named in the filing as a potential alternative. Advocates Hari Har Dahal, Baburam Dahal, Rajeshwor Shrestha, Shambhu Thapa, Satish Kharel, and Semant Dahal argued that the center lacked the technical infrastructure and personnel necessary to manage such a complex national project.
Semant Dahal told the court that the center's capital expenditure last year was just 500,000 rupees-less than $4,000-a figure he said reflected its severe institutional limitations.
The ruling marks a significant step in the government's effort to complete one of its largest digital identity procurements to date. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which oversees the Department of Passport, has maintained that the tender process followed international norms and was conducted with competitive transparency.
Still, the controversy surrounding the case has raised broader questions about the use of public interest litigation in Nepal, and the extent to which such petitions are being used to revisit failed commercial bids.
The contract, once signed, will enable the supply, delivery, and personalization of biometric passports, part of the government's push to modernize identification services in line with international standards.
