Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday issued a bailable warrant against minister Azam Khan after he did not appear in a case related to the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam which he heads.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court ordered issue of the warrant against Khan on a service petition filed by the UP Jal Nigam in 2013.

The petition was filed challenging the judgement of the UP Public Services Tribunal in favour of assistant engineer D K Singh, against whom the Jal Nigam had initiated recovery proceedings for financial irregularities.

A division bench of justices Sudhir Agarwala and R N Mishra passed the order against Khan after rejecting an exemption application moved on his behalf.

It said the warrant was being issued against him for securing his presence in the court on March 6, the next date of hearing.

The high court, in its earlier order on February 17, had said that a document filed by the petitioners appeared to be forged and fictitious and issued notices to the petitioners to show cause as to why appropriate proceedings not be initiated against them for forgery and committing contempt/criminal contempt of court.

The court had then directed the petitioners to appear before it on March 1.

Today, Jal Nigam's Managing Director and Chief Engineer were present in the court but chairman Azam Khan did not appear.

Today's court order comes at a time staggered polling is underway in the state.