‘Remarkable coincidence’ how Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu’s family got huge government tenders, contracts: Supreme Court

THe sublime margaret court on tues found “ singular happenstance” of how huge contracts for development works in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district were awarded to firms linked to chief minister Pema Khandu or his family members as the court directed the state to provide data in this regard for other districts in the state as well.Hearing a public interest litigation seeking an independent probe against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and state CM over allegations of providing state largesse to his family members, the bench of justices VIkram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, “The coincidence is remarkable that in a state work orders and tenders are given to family members in huge numbers.”The court was responding to an affidavit filed by the Arunachal Pradesh government filed in a PIL filed by Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Sena, which alleged that work orders in the state were given to firms linked to Khandu, his wife, his father’s second wife Rinchin Drema, his nephew Tsering Tashi, who were enriched by thousands of crores of rupees.The bench said, “The response of the state does not dispute these are firms belonging to respondent’s (Pema Khandu) family members. We will consider whether any inquiry is needed.”Senior advocate Rauf Rahim appearing for the state pointed out that no government contracts were allotted to firms linked to family members of CM and whatever contract came to be awarded in the past 10 years was by open tender. The bench said, “It is possible the tender was there and nobody came forward. Where they did, the difference is minimal. That shows cartelisation. In enquiry it will come out if some person was allowed to bid.”The state said that the allegation by the petitioner is only against one district — Tawang while the court said, “How do you say this petition is limited to Tawang district only? It is for the entire state. You have chosen to file in respect of Tawang only because the petitioner organisation is based in Tawang.”Even in respect of Tawang, the state response showed that 154 out of 300 contracts went to firms associated with CM’s family in the past 10 years. These firms included M/s Brand Eagles and M/s Frontier Associates whose proprietor is Tsering Dolma, wife of CM Khandu; M/s RD Associates belonging to CM’s brother Tashi Khandu, and M/s Alliance Trading Company belonging to his nephew’s wife.On court’s nudge, Rahim agreed to file a detailed affidavit giving details of firms linked to the family members of Arunachal CM across all other districts in the state. Granting two months for the response to be filed, the bench posted the matter in February next year.The petitioners represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi pointed out that in an earlier proceeding filed before the top court, the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) had flagged violation of General Financial Rules (GFR) of 2017, Manual for Procurement of Consultancy & Other Services and Manual for Procurement of Works in award of tenders. These rules talked of integrity of bids, no conflict of interest, confidentiality, independence and transparency at all stages of procurement.The state enacted a law in 2015 which permits awarding contracts for work costing up to ₹50 lakhs through a “work order” where no special technical know-how is required. The state said that this practice was followed in the state even prior to the Act in the larger interest of providing employment to local villagers and contractors.