The Supreme Court of India has directed the Arunachal Pradesh government to submit a comprehensive, state-wide affidavit detailing all government contracts awarded between 2015 and 2025. This order comes in response to an ongoing Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that has brought to light a significant concentration of contracts in a single district being awarded to firms owned by the immediate family of Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
Details of the Contracts and the Affidavit
According to an affidavit filed by the state government in the Supreme Court, four companies linked to CM Pema Khandu's family secured 146 work contracts in Tawang district alone between 2012 and 2023. The total value of these contracts amounts to a staggering Rs 383.74 crore.
The affidavit names the firms and their beneficial owners: M/s Frontier Associates and M/s Brand Eagles are owned by the Chief Minister's wife, Tsering Dolma; M/s RD Construction is owned by his brother, Tashi Khandu; and M/s Alliance Trading Company is owned by Nima Drema, who is the wife of Khandu's brother and Tawang MLA, Tsering Tashi.
A breakdown provided in the court document shows that Tsering Dolma's two firms bagged 42 contracts worth Rs 209.6 crore. Nima Drema's company received the highest number of orders at 91, valued at Rs 145.04 crore. Tashi Khandu's firm secured 13 contracts worth Rs 29.1 crore.
Contracts Awarded Without Tender Raise Questions
A particularly contentious revelation in the affidavit is that 59 of these 146 contracts, worth Rs 16.83 crore, were awarded directly through work orders without any tender process. This practice, while explained by the state as a norm for local development, has come under judicial scrutiny.
The state government's 2020 amendment to its local preference policy explicitly stated that work orders without tender should be limited to projects "costing up to Rs 50 lakh" and requiring "no special technical know-how." However, the affidavit shows that 11 work contracts awarded to the four family-linked firms prior to this 2020 amendment exceeded the Rs 50 lakh limit. One notable example is a Rs 2 crore contract for "establishment of government college in Tawang" issued to M/s Alliance Trading Company in 2018.
The state, in its defence, argued that the practice of awarding work orders is common in Arunachal Pradesh due to its unique tribal-to-modern transition. It stated that villagers often prefer contractors recommended by their elected representatives, as they offer "maximum trust and flexibility." The affidavit also claimed that 95% of the contracts were awarded through open tender, leaving no room for allegations of "pick and choose."
Supreme Court's Reaction and Next Steps
The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing the PIL filed by the Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Sena, took a serious view of the findings. The judges remarked that the allotment of such a large number of contracts to the Chief Minister's family represented a "remarkable coincidence."
During the hearing on December 2, the petitioners' counsel, Prashant Bhushan, contended that the information provided by the state was not "complete/up to date." Accepting this, the Supreme Court directed the Arunachal Pradesh government to file a fresh and comprehensive affidavit. This new affidavit must cover all 28 districts of the state and pertain to the period from 2015 to 2025. The state has been given eight weeks to comply with this order.
The petitioners have sought a court-monitored investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the award of these contracts. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for February 3.
The range of projects awarded to these firms was vast, including the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, irrigation channels, power lines, community halls, cultural centres, residential quarters, office buildings, tourism facilities, and even a war memorial. The contracts were issued by various departments including Public Works, Rural Works, and Water Resources in Tawang district.
