Pema Khandu
The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred the hearing on a PIL seeking a CBI or SIT probe into allegations of nepotism in the award of public works contracts to firms owned by family members of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, scheduled the hearing for the second week of February 2025.
The PIL, filed by the NGOs Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Senaa, alleges that government contracts in the state are being disproportionately awarded to family members of the Chief Minister, including his father Dorjee Khandu’s 2nd wife Rinchin Drema and his nephew Tsering Tashi.
The petition claims that Drema’s firm, Brand Eagles, has received numerous government contracts despite clear conflicts of interest. The petitioners allege that the awarding of these contracts was done in a biased and arbitrary manner, with other firms simply acting as fronts to facilitate the contracts for family-owned businesses, securing commissions for doing so.
Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, argued that the state’s administration resembled a private enterprise, with government contracts being funneled to the family members. He pointed out that a similar case involving Dorjee Khandu’s family had previously led the Supreme Court to seek a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
The petition alleges that such favoritism in awarding public contracts—especially in sectors like flood damage restoration, managed by the Department of Relief and Rehabilitation, previously led by Dorjee Khandu and now under Pema Khandu—undermines good governance and transparency.
The court decided to defer the matter to February 2025, with Chief Justice Khanna acknowledging that he had not yet reviewed the responses filed by the state government and the Centre. The case will be taken up for a substantive hearing at that time.
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