ISLAMABAD: On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered Pakistan Railways to provide a thorough report on its land use and long-term strategies for increasing profitability.
A railway station, according to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, is the center of every city and needs to have a hotel, restaurant, and shopping area since passengers also need to go shopping.
The CJP said that there were residential areas 50 feet from railroad tracks in Pakistan, citing a recent incident where a rickshaw collided with a train on the Khanewal-Lahore route killing two people.
The SC’s intervention prevented an effort to build a housing society on the property owned by the railway, according to Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan.
According to him, all process land leases ought to be open to the public and subject to the auditor general’s scrutiny.
The court gave the railroad official instructions to present a thorough report that also contains leasing proposition ideas.
Besides, all of the railway quarters in Quetta, according to Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, have been sold.
Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman took the view that even a single inch of land could not be leased out since the Karachi bench had already ruled this.
The chief judge observed that the court was unable to grant railways a permit to sell and lease the properties. If the railways could put together a thorough business strategy, the bench would take notice, he continued.
The court wouldn’t be impressed, according to CJ Umar Ata Bandial, with a simple mention of billions of rupees.
He said that the improvement of the railway system would be a relief to the ordinary man as it was the lifeline of the nation and that the encroachment surrounding the railroad tracks was growing daily.
The CJP questioned why there wasn’t a viable railroad system here since one existed in the neighboring countries.
The railway department had leased away precious lands for 100 years for barely Rs. 500 per year, said Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan.
He observed that a housing society had been erected on railway property close to the old Islamabad airport.
According to Justice Ahsan, the railway is an allocated property for operational rather than economic objectives.
Passenger trains, freight trains, and leased land are the three sources of revenue for the railroads, according to Muzafar Ranjha, secretary of the ministry of railways.
He said that the railways’ property was underutilized and that they sought to turn it into a revenue stream.
In response to a question, he stated that the railway had made Rs. 62 billion last year as opposed to their goal of Rs. 58 billion.
However, he claimed that the flood cost Pakistan Railways Rs. 628 billion and the department fixed its tracks without help from the government.
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