Monday Musing
[ Tongam Rina ]
Though the Supreme Court judgment on the writ petition (civil) No 54 of 2024 regarding allegations of corruption, nepotism, and financial irregularity in awarding public works contracts by the state to the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh and his family is just a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to inquire into the allegations, the judgment itself reveals astounding details on how systematically rules were bypassed. The 35-page judgment, based on the allegations and responses by the state and comptroller and auditor general (CAG) accounts, is in itself a quiet indictment of Chief Minister Pema Khandu, his family, and the state government, and brings state agencies under the court’s scrutiny if one reads the words carefully.
The case goes back to 2007, when the Voluntary Arunachal Sena, a little-known organisation with very few members, filed a PIL in the Gauhati High Court, alleging that the state government under then Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu arbitrarily awarded contracts without tenders. The high court dismissed the PIL in 2010, prompting the NGO to approach the Supreme Court through a special leave petition (SLP). The Supreme Court subsequently disposed of the SLP and directed the comptroller and auditor general to examine allegations of favouritism in contracts awarded to the Khandu family.
In January 2024, a fresh writ petition (civil) No 54 of 2024 was filed by Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Sena, specifically targeting contracts awarded during Pema Khandu’s tenure. The Save Mon Region Federation, or SMRF, a monk-led organisation, has in the past been at loggerheads and has protested against the government for its attempts to clear various hydropower projects in the Tawang basin. One of the mass protests led to the killing of two villagers, including a monk, by the state police, increasing the hostile confrontation between them, the state and the Khandu family, even though during the firing he was not the chief minister yet and joined only two months later to begin his 10 years and counting in power. His 10-year journey till now has not been without controversy, as records show, more so in the last couple of years, that he has risen to being one of the richest chief ministers in the entire country, which makes the petition by the Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Sena and the court order even more interesting.
The petition alleged that state contracts worth over Rs 1,270 crore were arbitrarily awarded to firms owned by the chief minister’s family, covering public works and contracts issued. There are also allegations concerning work orders in Tawang district – effectively the chief minister’s turf, though not fully – being awarded without any competitive bidding.
Last year in July, the CAG submitted its final report, confirming ‘repeated departures’ from tender-based procurement and ‘serious gaps’ in documentation.
Following this, on 2 December, 2025, the Supreme Court ordered the Arunachal government to file an affidavit detailing all contracts awarded between 2015 and 2025, including those granted to the chief minister’s relatives. The state’s counter-affidavit in July 2025 confirmed that four family-linked firms secured 146 contracts worth Rs 383.74 crore in Tawang district alone between 2012 and 2023.
In February 2026, the court reserved its judgment. On 6 April, 2026, a three-judge bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria, delivered its final order, directing the CBI to register a preliminary inquiry within two weeks.
The court, cautious in its judgment, was nevertheless blunt in ordering a CBI inquiry.
“The record discloses repeated resort to non-tender methods in relation to public works, repeated absence of recorded reasons explaining why competition was dispensed with, and repeated non-production of vouchers and tender-related documentation in relation to projects of substantial value. Such circumstances raise legitimate concerns not merely of administrative irregularity but of possible abuse of public office, manipulation of procurement processes, and concealment or destruction of official records, matters which require investigation by an independent agency vested with statutory powers of criminal investigation,” the judgment reads.
The court says that the CBI shall register a preliminary inquiry within two weeks from the date of the judgment, which is 6 April, and shall cover the award and execution of public works contracts and work orders in the state of Arunachal for the period from 01.01.2015 to 31.12.2025, including the works and compilations placed on record in the court. The CBI shall, in particular, examine awards made to Respondent Nos 4 to 6, which include the chief minister, one of his mothers, and one of his brothers.
It all depends on how far the CBI will go, given its history of shoddy and delayed investigation in the state, but the recent Supreme Court judgment is not only an embarrassment for the chief minister and the state but for the BJP itself. For now, it appears that the BJP will wait for the CBI investigation, but the damage to the party has been done, and it must answer to the people and within the party itself how it decides to deal with the outcome of major allegations backed by missing paper trails which even the SC has acknowledged.
No doubt the BJP has become a safe space for politicians mired in corruption cases and allegations like Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, but within the party itself, it is not known to be very tolerant of such blatant allegations where even the highest court takes note of alleged dubious manipulation.
The chief minister should have stepped away for a fair investigation, and the BJP should have issued a statement on the court judgment. But so far the response of the chief minister as well as the BJP seems to be that they are relieved that the court did not go so far as to say that there is sufficient evidence, therefore making them liable for prosecution.
This case also points to the persistence of counsel Prashant Bhushan and his team for the petitioners, with their immaculate supply of evidence – enough for the court to order an inquiry. What happens next will be interesting, as the court in its judgment has already made it clear that there are too many gaps, in its cautious yet all-telling and clever words. “We clarify that the observations made in this judgment are for the purposes of deciding whether an independent investigation is warranted. They shall not be construed as findings on the merits of any allegation, and they shall not prejudice any person in any proceedings that may arise.”
The state and the BJP now have some time to respond to these massive allegations against the chief minister and his family. As often happens in the state, with him at the helm of affairs and with few taking these allegations seriously – including the BJP itself – it may not be a difficult task to make the wrong seem right within the given time.
While the court has not gone that far but implies it, the larger question remains: how has one family been allowed to have a say in nearly every contract in the state, directly or indirectly, barring even the smallest works, even as it continues to run – or rather ruin -the system? How is it justifiable at all, even in a state which thrives on corruption and misuse of public funds, of which people are supposed to be a willing party?
The bigger question is: how is the BJP keeping silent when the court has ordered an inquiry, which obviously does not tantamount to an indictment, but reads like one if one goes through the latest judgment carefully, along with the inadequate responses of the state and the all-telling CAG response to these allegations of massive corruption?
But then we have the answer. For the Arunachalis, this is not the first time a former chief minister, a chief minister, or their family in Arunachal has been under investigation. For now, Pema Khandu joins four others who have been investigated for similar reasons. We are a state which does not demand accountability from its rulers, so it’s just another court judgment and inquiry. All good – even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s well known ‘na khaunga, na khanedunga’ – translates to ‘hum aapse jada khaiga kyuki aap log ko hum khilana hei’ in Arunachal.
