In a fresh trouble for the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has sought response from the state government on a public suit that alleges a Rs 100-crore scam in the Samajwadi Ambulance Service, a dream project of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

While hearing a petition filed by Amit Mishra on Monday, the court was told of large-scale irregularities and it was claimed that the 102 ambulance service was in fact running only on paper.

Litigant's counsel Chandan Srivastava and Ravi Singh Sisodia also presented before the court documents, including letters from Health and Family Welfare Minister Ravidas Mehrotra, in support of their contention.

While the state counsel opposed the demand for a CBI probe into the matter, a bench of Justice S.N. Shukla and S.N. Singh asked the government if it had conducted a probe into the alleged irregularities and if not, why so. The court has fixed March 20 as the next date of hearing.