ISLAMABAD: Former minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed claimed before the Supreme Court bench hearing a suo motu case about corruption in Pakistan Railways on Wednesday that sitting Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour had requested him to withdraw from the case.

Sheikh Rashid also lamented before the two-judge bench that Railways Secretary Javed Ahmed had been removed from his post after he had submitted corruption cases to the National Accountability Bureau. The PR's general manager may meet the same fate, he said.

The court, however, ordered NAB Chairman Syed Fasih Bokhari to collect an audit report on the department and determine criminal liabilities against officials responsible for corrupt practices.

The NAB chief will submit a comprehensive report after three weeks enlisting references against individuals who sold scrap at throwaway prices.

The Supreme Court registrar under the instructions will convene a meeting of engineers from the Heavy Mechanical Complex Taxila as well as from Risalpur in addition to Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to devise suggestions for revamping the Railways system.

The registrar office will also convey to all the provincial chief secretaries to submit reports over measures taken to vacate railways land from illegal occupants, including the armed forces, Frontier Corps and Rangers.

During the proceedings Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Rehabilitation of the Railways Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also told the court that despite approval by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the railways board awaits constitution for the past one year.

Railways Board Secretary Shafiq Ullah conceded that the 16-member board under the Railways Transfer Ordinance, 2002, could not be made functional, but said the committee on railways restructuring would take up the matter soon.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq feared that the closure of the railways would be a national disaster since around eight billion passengers ferried annually through the railways but the department was facing liabilities of Rs40 billion.

Another chunk of Rs90 million has to be paid as pension to its retired employees per year, he said deploring a fleet of 141 locomotives was available with the railways, but 293 had broken down.

The court ordered the Railway authorities to submit the forensic examination of the department conducted by a private company.

Advocate Rai Mohammad Nawaz Kharral submitted a report on behalf of Railways Board Secretary Shafiq Ullah, stating that the existing locomotive fleet was augmented to 95 from the earlier 75 after 20 heavy diesel locomotives were repaired and put in active service and 21 more locomotives would be revived by the middle of December.

Similarly the freight operation is likely to commence through transportation of oil from thermal power station Mehmood Kot (a small town in Multan) to Taru Jaba in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as soon as Shell Pakistan Limited submits a requisition.

Whereas the procurement of 225 locomotives would be carried out in a transparent manner in accordance with the PPRA Rules that ask for ensuring transparency in government deals, the report said.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Rashid lamented that in the rest of the world trains were running at 400km per hour but here these were speeding below 50km per hour.

He also read out an audit report on Railways, saying that the financial losses stood at Rs23 billion in 2007, Rs25 billion in 2008, Rs33 billion in 2009-2010, while it would be around Rs40 billion in 2011.

Advocate Salman Akram Raja, representing Sheikh Rashid, contended that the purchase of 150 locomotives at a cost of $650 million signed with the General Electric of the US would be the biggest procurement project in the country's history.