Ranchi: Jharkhand High Court asked CBI on Wednesday to investigate why the project to widen the NH-33 stretch between the capital and Jamshedpur had not been completed for years, blaming all stakeholders, including the contractor, NHAI and the state government, for the inordinate delay.

A division bench of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary, while hearing a PIL initiated suo motu in 2014, observed that the project had been kept hanging by all stakeholders, that also include banks that funded the project, for a very long time.

The bench did not mention corruption, but alluded to it when it directed the serious frauds investigation organisation under the Union ministry of corporate affairs to hand over its report on the project delay to the CBI along with documents.

The court would not let public interest suffer, the bench noted.

The project to widen to four lanes the 128km stretch of NH-33 connecting Ranchi and Jamshedpur was to have been completed in April 2015. The contractor, Ranchi Expressways, had given an undertaking to the court in August last year that work would be completed by July this year.

But this deadline is unlikely to be met just as the previously promised timelines.

In response to a notice issued by the bench on July 9, the CBI had responded positively. However, additional solicitor general of India Rajeev Kumar, who represented the investigating agency, said CBI would first like to conduct a preliminary enquiry to ascertain the role of individuals responsible for the delay in executing a project of public interest.

Encouraged by the directives of the court, which has been monitoring the project since 2016, NHAI moved an application on Wednesday to terminate the contract with Ranchi Expressways to avoid lengthy procedural formalities.

Ranchi Expressways and Canara Bank, which is leading the consortium that funded the project, sought time to respond to the NHAI petition.

The case will be heard again on August 9.