The new Jharkhand High Court building complex in Dhurwa, which was supposed to be ready by December 21, 2017, is now expected to be complete by March 2020, secretary-cum-managing director of building construction department Sunil Kumar has said.

The deadline for the new high court complex assumed urgency on Friday when a bench of Justices S.N. Prasad and Ratnaker Bhengra ordered chief secretary D.K. Tiwari to file a detailed affidavit on the current status of construction.

The bench, hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate Rajeev Kumar who alleged embezzlement of funds during construction, sought straight answers from the government. The case will again be heard on August 23.

So far, over Rs 272 crore has already been spent from the public exchequer on building the complex, a reliable source has told this reporter.

A short visit to the 90-acre construction site at Dhurwa on Tuesday afternoon suggested that court rooms, judges’ chambers, personal assistants’ chambers, judges’ secretaries’ chambers and advocates’ rooms have been built. But they are not yet furnished. The more serious concern, however, is that approach roads have not yet been built. The campus needs roads, gardens and an electronic surveillance system in place to make it worthy of hosting the state’s high court.

While no one spoke on the embezzlement allegations, an official of the agency engaged for the project, M/S Ram Kripal Singh Construction Private Limited, said: “Work has stopped for the last one year as for we do not have any work order or funds. We were asked to construct building and we did it. We were not asked to build roads and make other finishing touches. So that’s yet to be done,” said the official, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to come on quote before the media.

Project manager K.P. Sharma said the delay was on the part of the state government. “We did the work that we were asked to do. For the remaining work, the government has to allot separate funds as this was not the part of the original project,” Sharma said. Pressed for details, he suggested government officials be contacted.

Secretary-cum-MD of building construction department Sunil Kumar admitted to the delay but did not give explanations.

He added that work was now expected to be completed by March 2020. “We are preparing a detail project report for the remaining work. Once it is finalised, we will float a tender to complete the remaining project. I hope the project will be completed by March 2020,” Kumar said.

The tender for the new high court complex had been floated in February 2015. Construction work started on June 22, 2015, with a 30-month (December 21, 2017) deadline.

The new building is close to the new Assembly building and a planned colony to rehabilitate the villagers displaced by these mega government projects.