LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Thursday took possession of the Royal Palm Country and Golf Club and appointed a chartered accountant firm as court-receiver to run day-to-day affairs of the club and scheduled activities.

Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was present in the court when a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar resumed hearing of a case regarding encroachment on the railways land. Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan were the other members of the bench.

The minister stated that the railways prime land had been encroached upon in connivance with previous regimes. He said railways authorities were also involved in facilitating the encroachment. He requested the court to get the land retrieved.

Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, the club’s counsel, challenged the contention of the minister and said there was a registered lease between the club and the railways. The minister pointed out that the lease stood canceled in 2016 for defaulting on payments. However, the club management neither abandoned the possession nor paid the rent, he added.

The counsel for the railways told the bench that the previous regime had taken over the possession of the club, however, the Lahore High Court had granted a stay to the management.

Chief Justice Nisar observed that the court would take over the club till resolution of the dispute and the previous management would not be allowed to enter the premises. He appointed Shabbar Zaidi of A F Ferguson, a chartered accountant firm, as court-receiver to run the club.

The chief justice directed Mr Zaidi, who was present in the court, to immediately take over the club’s complete record/accounts. He observed that the club’s previous management would withdraw its petition from the high court while all reserved functions and activities in the club would be held as per the schedule.

The CJP remarked that the railways land could not be used for commercial purposes. However, he said the railways could continue with its policy of lease its agricultural land for cultivation purposes on short term programme to meet expenses.

Further hearing will be held on Jan 4, 2019 in Islamabad.

Mainland Husnain Pakistan Limited had been running the club since its inception in 2001 during the regime of former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Talking to the media, the railways minister said his predecessor Khwaja Saad Rafiq had lied about the prices of locomotives purchased by the previous government. He said the former railways minister purchased one locomotive for Rs470 million when US dollar was equal to Rs104 in open market. He said price of each locomotive purchased by the previous government had risen to Rs670 million now.

“And all these locomotives are scrap and parked in Mughalpura railways workshop,” added the minister.

Mr Ahmad alleged that his predecessor had caused an irreparable loss to the railways.

He said the SC decision against Royal Palm Club was good for both the railways and the country.

A NAB reference is also pending before an Islamabad accountability court against the illegal lease of the railway’s prime land to the Royal Palm Club management. The suspects in the reference include Lt-Gen retired Javed Ashraf Qazi, then chairman and minister of railways, Lt -Gen retired Saeeduz Zaman, former secretary and chairman of the railways board, Maj-Gen retired Hamid Hassan Butt, Brig retired Akhtar Ali Baig, Iqbal Samad Khan, Khurshid Ahmed Khan, Abdul Ghaffar, Pervez Qureshi and Ramzan Sheikh (one of the owners of the club).

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2018