PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Saturday issued a stay order against the awarding of contracts for water supply schemes under the Public Health Engineering Department in the constituency of Member National Assembly Sher Afzal Marwat and sought replies from the provincial government and other respondents within a fortnight.
A division bench comprising Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Faheem Wali issued a short written order while hearing a petition against the Naurang City Mega Water Supply Project in NA-41 Lakki Marwat.
The court restrained the provincial authorities from awarding the final contract of the project to any party until further orders.
In the petition filed by MNA Marwat, it was argued that the Rs1.3 billion project was being manipulated in violation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA rules to favour a preferred contractor, having a lack of transparency in the tendering process.
The petitioner’s counsel prayed the court to cancel the current tender and conduct a fresh and transparent bidding process.
The counsel further contended that the tenders were opened on a holiday without informing other contractors, allegedly to benefit a blue-eyed person. It was also argued that despite being the elected representative of the constituency, the petitioner was ignored in the inclusion of schemes.
Raising serious objections to the tendering procedure, the petitioner sought judicial intervention.
The bench then issued notices to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and all parties concerned, seeking detailed replies within two weeks, restraining authorities from finalising the contract until a final decision was made.
