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SC reserves verdict on Railways land
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict on the issue of 141 acre Railways land in Lahore, which was leased out during the regime of former president Pervez Musharraf.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Ghulam Rabbani reserved its decision after the counsel for parties concluded their arguments.
Earlier, the counsel for the Secretary Railways presented the whole record of the transaction and said that his client had clearly directed him to assist the court and place relevant record and facts before it for reaching a just decision.
The Auditor General Railways also presented a report saying that the deal had incurred a loss of Rs 290 million to the organization.
Makhdoom Ali Khan, counsel for Husnain Construction Company, denied the figures and said that the transaction did not cause any loss to the Pakistan Railways.
He said last year the company paid about Rs 40 million to the government.
Ali Raza, counsel for Royal Palm Golf Club, defended the deal and said that the deal was done after abiding by all the rules and regulations.
Mian Allah Nawaz, counsel for Ishaq Khan Khakwani and Dr Mobashir Hassan, the petitioners, contended that the Railways land was leased out to Royal Palms and Country Golf Club Lahore in a highly objectionable manner in 2001.
He claimed that initial area, which was to be leased out, was around 103 acres but later on it was increased to 141 acres, besides, the period of lease was extended to 49 years from 33 years in a shadowy manner.
There were a total of 16 respondents including the Railway Board, the then secretaries, chairmen Railways, serving chairman and secretary Railways, the Establishment Division, Senior Member Federal Bureau of Revenue, Secretary Railways Board, General Manager Services, Lt Gen (R) Javed Ashraf Qazi, former federal minister, Lt Gen (R) Saeed ul Zafar, Maj Gen (r) Hamid Hassan Butt and Khursheed Alam and others.
Courtesy www.geo.tv