New Delhi, February 17 The Supreme Court was told on Tuesday that government contracts and work orders worth around Rs 1,270 crore were awarded in Arunachal Pradesh to four firms related to the family members of Chief Minister Pema Khandu in the last 10 years.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria reserved its order on a plea seeking a CBI probe into the awarding of public works contracts in the state to firms owned by the family members of Khandu.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner NGOs Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Sena, referred to the recent affidavit filed by the state of Arunachal Pradesh and argued that a number of contracts were awarded to companies owned by the chief minister's family members.
He said the affidavit refers to only four firms which were directly related to Khandu's family members.
Bhushan said the total value of works awarded through tender to these four companies in the last 10 years was Rs 1,245 crore.
He said work orders of around Rs 25 crore were also given to these firms during this period.
"A total of around Rs 1,270 crore worth of works have been awarded in the last 10 years to these four firms, which either belong directly to the chief minister, or his wife, or his mother, or his brother," Bhushan alleged.
He argued that roughly three per cent of the total value of contracts awarded in the state in the last 10 years were given only to these four firms.
"There should be a CBI investigation. This reeks of corruption," Bhushan said, adding that the state police would not be able to investigate the matter impartially.
He said it should be investigated whether the firms that participated in the government tenders or work orders were directly or indirectly related to Khandu.
While reserving the order in the matter, the bench said the counsel for the parties may submit their written briefs within two weeks.
The counsel appearing for the state had earlier argued that the plea was a "sponsored litigation".
On December 2 last year, the top court asked the Arunachal Pradesh government to file a comprehensive affidavit giving details of the contracts awarded from 2015 to 2025, including those to firms of family members of the chief minister.
CM Khandu has been made a party respondent in the PIL.
Pema Khandu's father Dorjee Khandu's second wife Rinchin Drema and his nephew Tsering Tashi have also been made parties to the case.
Dorjee Khandu served as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh from 2007 until his death in a helicopter crash in April 2011.
The plea claimed that Drema's firm, Brand Eagles, was awarded a large number of government contracts despite there being a clear conflict of interest.