New Delhi, Dec. 3 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday found "remarkable coincidence" 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 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....