The Supreme Court has taken a serious view of allegations suggesting that a disproportionate share of public contracts in Arunachal Pradesh has been awarded to firms owned by relatives of Chief Minister Pema Khandu. Reviewing a petition that initially raised the issue, the bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta commented that the claims involve “high functionaries” and a “considerable number” of work orders favoring companies linked to the Chief Minister’s family. The court specifically described the recurring allotment of tenders and contracts across the state to firms belonging to Khandu’s relatives as a “remarkable coincidence.”
The state government did not dispute the ownership of these companies, prompting the bench to underline that the sheer volume of contracts awarded warranted deeper judicial scrutiny. Consequently, the matter has been adjourned until February, with a specific directive for the Arunachal Pradesh government to file a comprehensive affidavit. This affidavit must list all contracts awarded between the years 2015 and 2025 to Khandu, his family members, or their associated firms across every district of the state. The bench indicated that following the submission of this report, it would assess whether a formal inquiry into the matter would be required.
The current proceedings follow an earlier action in March, when the Supreme Court first issued notice on a plea seeking a probe into the contract allocations favoring the Chief Minister’s relatives. At that time, the court also requested the state to provide a consolidated report identifying all individuals and entities mentioned in the petition who had benefited from government work orders. While the bench referenced the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report during the hearing, it remarked that the report was “neither here nor there,” emphasizing the need for clear and direct statements from the relevant state ministries to be formally placed on the record. These pointed observations have squarely brought questions of transparency and accountability in Arunachal Pradesh’s public spending into sharp focus, with the crucial February hearing set to determine the path forward.
