Sri Lanka's top court on Friday ordered the suspension of the government's outsourcing of visa processing to an India-based consortium who stood to make billions from the agreement.
Sri Lanka's top court on Friday ordered the suspension of the government's outsourcing of visa processing to an India-based consortium who stood to make billions from the agreement.
Opposition parties and tourism minister Harin Fernando had opposed privatising Sri Lanka's electronic travel authorisation process for its visa system, arguing that it would discourage tourists.
The government nonetheless went ahead with the outsourcing in April, contracting India's GBS Technology Services and IVS Global FZCO along with VFS Global as a technology partner.
On Friday, the Supreme Court issued an injunction that suspended the agreement and ordered the temporary reinstatement of a local telecom company which had earlier handled visa processing.
Petitioners alleged that the contract was not awarded transparently and told the court that the foreign consortium would earn up to $2.75 billion over a 16-year period.
Under the outsourcing agreement, any foreigner entering Sri Lanka was required to pay $25 to have their application processed -- even citizens of countries that had visa-free travel arrangements with Sri Lanka.
The next hearing in the case was set for October.
© Agence France-Presse
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