Violation of rules: IHC suspends Rs3.5b development contract for former PM’s constituency

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday suspended a Rs3.5 billion contract awarded to the National Logistics Cell (NLC) for a development scheme in former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s constituency Gujjar Khan, and charged the public works department (PWD) with contempt of court for releasing the funds in question despite a stay order issued earlier.

The contempt application had been moved by a private company, Gondal Construction, which claimed that PWD had released the Rs3.5 billion amount for the construction of the Mandra-Chakwal and Sohawa-Chakwal roads in the former premier’s constituency despite the court’s stay order.

The company challenged the contract earlier on October 10, 2012, claiming it was awarded to the NLC in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules. On March 26, 2013, the IHC bench issued show cause notices to PWD director general Shah Din Sheikh, superintendent Sohail Akhtar, executive engineer (XEN) Atiqur Rehman, federal treasury officer (FTO) Tasawar Hussain and acting FTO Zahid Mughal for March 28 (Thursday).

During Thursday’s proceedings, the PWD director general claimed he was pressurised into releasing the amount by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2013.