Supreme Court dismisses Idemia’s writ over passport contract.
Summary
The Supreme Court has dismissed writ petitions filed by French company IN Groupe (Idemia) over Nepal’s passport-printing contract, clearing the way for German company Veridos to continue the work. The court also issued a directive order in a related petition seeking that passports be printed at the Security Printing Centre.
Key Points
- The Supreme Court dismissed writ petitions filed by IN Groupe (Idemia) challenging the government’s award of Nepal’s passport-printing contract to Veridos.
- A division bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Shrikanta Poudel heard the case and dismissed four writ petitions in total, while issuing a directive order in a separate petition.
- Veridos, the German company currently printing Nepali passports, received relief from the ruling.
- Idemia had alleged that Nepali officials denied it the contract through a pre-arranged process and had supplied passports to Nepal for around 15 years.
