PESHAWAR, June 11: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday summoned a deputy secretary of the federal finance ministry and issued show cause notice to him to explain why he had given wrong statement before the court regarding release of funds for National Highway Authority (NHA) for completion of the Northern Bypass Road.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Qaisar Rasheed fixed June 13 for the next hearing with the direction that deputy secretary of the federal finance ministry Mohammad Hamid appear in person and clarify his position as to why he had given wrong statement.

During the last hearing on May 7, the said deputy secretary had informed the bench that the finance ministry had released Rs1,881.69 million to NHA for early completion of work on Northern Bypass Road. He had produced a letter of the ministry of May 3, 2013, according to which in compliance with the order of the high court an amount of Rs1,881.69 had been released to NHA for incurring expenses on Northern Bypass Road.

Following his statement the court had directed NHA to immediately initiate work on phases 2 and 3 of the project by pressing into service emergency provisions of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring property for it. The bench had warned NHA to complete the process within two to three months otherwise it would be answerable to the court.

At the start of the hearing on Tuesday, legal adviser of NHA Sikandar Irfan and project director of NHA Wazirzada Wazir informed the bench that so far NHA had not received the amount from the finance ministry.

They added that although the deputy secretary had produced the letter of the finance ministry during previous hearing, the funds had not been released.

The bench forthwith summoned deputy attorney general Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand and asked him why the official had given it a wrong statement.

The DAG expressed ignorance and said he would inquire it from the official. However, the bench directed him to convey to the deputy secretary to appear in person. The court has taken suo moto notice of the issue few months ago after delay in completion of the Northern Bypass Road.

In April, the court had directed the secretaries of finance and planning ministries to release required funds for the completion of Northern Bypass Road within two weeks in compliance with earlier orders failing which they would be proceeded against for contempt of court.

In its earlier order, the court had explained the importance of this project, passing through the northern outskirts of the provincial capital, especially in the wake of the growing trade among Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian States.