ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Housing and Works on Thursday informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the procedure for awarding Rs3 billion contract for the construction of IHC building to a private construction firm was flawed.

Standing counsel for the government barrister Jahangir Jadoon made this revelation during hearing of a petition filed by Gondal Construction against the award of the contract to Interhome.

Barrister Jadoon told the court that an inquiry committee had recommended cancellation of contract to the construction firm.

`The committee also recommended holding of inquiry to fix the responsi-bility for the irregularities in awarding the contract,` he added.

The PC for the construction of the IHC building was prepared in September 2012 and the project was approved by the Planning Division in November 2014. The pre-qualification of the contractors was called in December 2014.

The petitioner Gondal Construction alleged that the executing agency, Public Works Department (PWD), had awarded the contract to a private firm Interhome in violation of procurement rules.

A division bench of the IHC constituted a three-member committee to scrutinise the contract.

The court stated, `it is a matter of public concern hence the entire process should be transparent.

The committee asked that an advertisement should be published in newspaper to set prequalification criteria.Moreover, the committee decided that an applicant must secure 50 per cent score in each category and 50 per cent in total for prequalification status.

The committee pointed out that M/s Interhome secured less marks than the minimum requirement but it was given the project while ignoring the rules.

The IHC division bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Amir Farooq decided to pass a final order on the petition on Thursday. But the counsel for Interhome requested the court to put off the hearing for seven days so that he could examine the committee`s report.

Justice Minallah remarked that the bench could not prolong the proceedings in this matter.

He, however, asked the lawyers to assist the court in this matter and put off the hearing till April 8.