PESHAWAR, Sept 11: The Peshawar High Court was informed on Tuesday that the excise and taxation department had given 65 vehicles on superdari (temporary possession) to influential persons including MPAs, secretaries, police officials etc and had so far got back only 19 of them.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Mrs Justice Irshad Qaiser ordered the officials concerned to seize the remaining vehicles within a month failing which contempt of court proceedings would be initiated against them.

The bench directed the local police to provide assistance to the excise department in acquiring back the said vehicles. It was ordered that the excise officials may raid any premises if they suspected that the said vehicles were present there.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the handing over of luxurious vehicles to influential persons on superdari and had ordered a few weeks ago to recover all the vehicles. The court fixed Oct 16 for the next hearing.

At the very outset of the proceedings the chief justice reprimanded the director general of excise department, Arshid Khan, as to why he had failed to get the vehicles back. The bench asked him to provide complete details as to how many judges or their relatives had been given vehicles on superdari.

He stated that they had not given any vehicle on superdari to any of the judges or their relatives.

The secretary excise, Akber Khan, and counsel for the department, Gohar Rehman Khattak, provided a list to the bench stating that they had issued notices through the concerned DIGs to all the persons who had received vehicles from the department.

Mr Khattak contended that as the said persons were influential people, they had been facing problems in making them return the vehicles.

He named some of the persons who received vehicles on superdari including provincial minister Amjid Afridi, three MPAs named Attefur Rehman, Shagufta Malik and Mehr Sultana, provincial finance secretary, an investigation officer of NAB Enayatullah Khan, district returning officer Manzoor Ahmad, officials of health department including Dr Ahsan and Akber Khan, the assistant coordination officer of Peshawar, DIG Qudratullah Marwat, and others. He added that they had obtained a vehicle from MPA Iftikhar Khan Shagai through the DIG Mardan range.

He stated that the department had fully complied with the high court order issued on May 10, 2012, and had issued notices to the persons concerned asking them to return the vehicles.