[ Bengia Ajum ]

NEW DELHI, 24 Aug: The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) two weeks' time to file a fresh status report in the case related to government contracts allegedly awarded to family members of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu.

A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta, was hearing the case after issuing notices on 3 August to the chief secretary and the home principal secretary of Arunachal Pradesh to appear in person over allegations of non-cooperation by the state government with the CBI.

The chief secretary and the home principal secretary appeared before the bench and also filed affidavits explaining the show-cause notices issued to them by the Supreme Court on 3 August.

Earlier, appearing for the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought two weeks' time to file a counter-affidavit. Both he and Advocate General of Arunachal Indranil Choudhury submitted that the state had complied with the Supreme Court's directions in letter and spirit and had extended full cooperation to the CBI by providing all information sought by the investigating agency.

During the hearing, petitioner's counsel Prashant Bhushan sought that the scrutiny of documents be confined to firms allegedly connected with the chief minister's family, rather than covering contracts across the state.

The bench also tagged WPC No 995/2026, filed by Nabam Kakum, with the main matter, MA 2216/2026 in WP(C) No 543/2024. The WPC raises similar allegations that contracts and works were awarded to the chief minister's family, even as the Supreme Court is hearing the case.

The matter will next be heard after four weeks. Interestingly, the Additional Advocate General-cum-Standing Counsel for the state in the Supreme Court, Anil Srivastav, resigned from his post on 10 August after Chief Minister Pema Khandu blamed the state's standing counsel team for allegedly failing to appear before the Supreme Court. Since then, the government has appointed advocates Durga Dutt and Rishi Awasthi as standing counsel for the state in the Supreme Court of India.

With reports emerging that the ruling BJP is reportedly divided over the issue, there was considerable interest in Monday's hearing, with several MLAs and ministers, along with party workers close to the chief minister, travelling to Delhi to extend solidarity with him.