New Delhi: While ordering a CBI inquiry into allegations that the Arunachal government, led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu, awarded public contracts worth Rs 1,270 crore to his own family while maintaining that almost all contracts were allotted through open tender, the Supreme Court this week said the probe was necessary to unearth the extent of the suspected “collusive exercise”.
The apex court on Monday directed the CBI to register a preliminary inquiry within two weeks into the alleged irregular allotment of public contracts to companies owned by relatives and family members of CM Khandu.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria issued the directions on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by NGOs Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Sena that alleged all government contracts in the state were being awarded to the chief minister’s close family members.
What has the Supreme Court ordered?
The court has clarified that its order is not a finding on the merits of the allegations on which the PILs were filed and directed the CBI is to determine whether a detailed investigation is required into the matter.
The CBI has been told to file its status report before the court within 16 weeks. The preliminary enquiry will cover all government contracts and awards issued in the state from January 2015 to December 2025 and would cover all instances pointed out in the PIL.
The BJP leader became chief minister in July 2016 and has remained in charge since then. The order does not preclude the CBI from extending its probe, allowing it to go beyond the pleadings before it, the court clarified.
The judgment outlined the scope of CBI’s preliminary enquiry. It said the central agency shall examine all files, procurement process, and reasons for the tender among others.
The court ordered the Arunachal government and all its departments to cooperate with the CBI and fixed a four-week deadline for the state to hand over all records, including electronic, related to the contracts allocated to all the companies during the last decade. The state chief secretary will appoint a nodal officer to coordinate with the CBI and facilitate the agency team’s access to records and officers.
The chief secretary has also been directed to issue instructions within a week to all departments not to destroy, alter or render the relevant records and documents inaccessible for the probe.
‘Glaring instances of corruption’
The petitioners have sought an “investigation by CBI into glaring instances of corruption in Arunachal Pradesh where a huge number of government contracts worth crores of public money have been handed out in a routine manner to entities admittedly and demonstrably owned by the current CM…his mother and his brother…thereby warranting investigation by CBI especially under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988”.
The petitioners submitted that “these affidavits contain serious and prima facie incriminating disclosures” as to how crores worth of public funds in Arunachal Pradesh have been given to companies owned by the current chief minister and his family members.
“Bulk of these contracts were awarded to companies directly related to himself,” especially those awarded by the Public Works Department, Rural Works Department, Water Resources Department, Department of Hydro-Power Development, Department of Power, Department of Urban Development, many of which were also held by the chief minister for considerable years, the petitioners claimed.
The petitioners claimed that the total value of work awarded to firms owned by or related to respondents no. 4-6 through tenders were 121 contracts and amounted to Rs 1,245.04 crore, while the value of work awarded to firms owned by or related to respondents no. 4-6 through work orders were 322 contracts and amounted to Rs. 25.72 crore.
The petitioners further claimed that in the affidavit on February 16, the main argument being put forth by the state was that the percentage of works awarded to firms owned by respondent nos. 4 to 6 is “very less” when compared to the total number of works in the entire state.
“In this regard it is submitted that even this small percentage of total number of works amounts to more than Rs 1270 crore which by no means can be said to be negligible,” the petitioners claimed.
The petitioners claimed all data provided by the state in affidavit is only for four firms in past 10 years, “whereas the petitioner in the writ petition and additional affidavits have given evidence of nearly 15 such firms”.
“Thus, only an investigation by CBI can unearth the true extent of works awarded to respondent nos. 4 to 6 and their kith and kin,” they said. Adding that it is also to be noted that while affidavit filed by the state pertains to all districts of Arunachal Pradesh, the earlier affidavit that was filed on 17 September 2025 was concentrated to Tawang district, which is the native district of the three respondents, and thereby most contracts have been awarded in this district alone.
The petitioners have claimed that the two affidavits also show how in many tenders which have been awarded to firms owned by the three respondents, “the competing bidders were also firms owned by Respondent Nos. 4 to 6, thereby vitiating these tender processes on the ground of mala fide, arbitrariness and corruption”.
It said: “This leads to an irresistible conclusion that these hundreds of tenders have been a collusive exercise where both—those awarding the tender and those who have been awarded these tenders—are respondent nos. 4 to 6 or those related to them. It also discloses the active participation of state government officials who played a collusive role in awarding these contracts.”
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‘Contracts through open tender’
Meanwhile on 18 March the state of Arunachal Pradesh, through the deputy secretary said that a detailed exercise was carried out by the various government departments at Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh and a compilation of the contract works awarded to either the three respondents or firms/individuals related to them was made.
“It is reiterated that the allegations in the writ petition pertain to only one district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh–Tawang District,” the state responded.
The state clarified that “no government contracts were awarded to the respondents 4-6 in the last 10 years.” It further claimed that almost 95 per cent of the contracts awarded to firms/individuals related to respondent nos. 4 to 6 were through the process of “open tender”.
“Since almost all the contracts were awarded through the process of open tender after inviting and evaluation of technical and financial bids there can be no allegations of pick and choose or that undue favors were made to the respondent nos. 4 to 6 or firms / individuals related to them,” the state said.
The state said that the contracts mentioned in the additional affidavit mainly pertain to the various phases of just three main contracts: Construction of link road from Lhou Nallah to Mukto Circle HQs, Tawang District; Construction of Wood Barn “Wooden Dream House” at Shyaro in Tawang District; and Development of Eco-Tourism Lodge at Waterfall View in Jang, Tawang District.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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