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Thursday March 28, 2024

SC takes Royal Country Club in judicial custody

By Amir Riaz
December 28, 2018

LAHORE: The Supreme Court (SC) took the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club under judicial custody and appointed a representative of a charted accountant firm as receiver to run the day-to-day affairs of the club.

A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing thecase at the SC Lahore Registry on Thursday pertaining to the encroachments of Pakistan Railways' land and leasing it out at throwaway prices. Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan were other members of the bench.

The Railways Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, who appeared before the court, stated that the prime land of the department was encroached upon with the connivance of the previous regimes. He said the railways authorities were also involved in facilitating the encroachers. He urged the bench to order the recovery of, what he claimed, "the most attractive and prime property of the railways".

In rebuttal, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, the club’s counsel, said there is a registered lease between the club and the railways. The minister pointed out that the lease stood cancelled in 2016. However, the club management neither abandoned the possession nor paid rent for it, he added. The counsel for the railways told the bench that the previous regime had taken over the possession of the club but the Lahore High Court had granted a stay to the management.

The Chief Justice Nisar observed that the court would take over the club till the resolution of the dispute and the previous management would not enter the club. The chief justice appointed Shabbar Zaidi of AF Ferguson, a chartered accountancy firm, as the court-receiver to run the Royal Palm Club. The court also directedRamzan Sheikh, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the club, and his staff to relinquish the charge to the auditing firm for an audit. It added that until the audit was complete, the club would not be managed by the Sheikh or the Pakistan Railways. The court also ordered that the old administration would not be allowed access to the club; however, all planned activities would continue as per schedule.

The chief justice directed Mr Zaidi, who was present in the court, to immediately take over the complete record and accounts of the club. The top judge observed that the previous management of the club would withdraw its petition from the high court. The Chief Justice Nisar remarked that the railways land could not be used for commercial purposes. However, he said the railways could continue with its policy of giving its agricultural land for cultivation purposes on short-term lease programme to meet expenses. Further hearing will be held on Jan 4, 2019 in Islamabad.

During the hearing, the court poured over Royal Palm Club’s “flawed contract”. It added that the contract was defective from the beginning, as it permitted looting of billions, which was done with the connivance of the railways.

“This is railways land and we shall not allow any other entity to control it,” Chief Justice Saqib Nisar remarked and expressed his displeasure at the sale of the railway's land. He regretted that the owners of the the Royal Palm Club collaborated with the previous railways administration and "embezzled billions of rupees".

The chief justice remarked that Royal Palm owners "are so powerful that half the country listens to them", but made it clear that "this is railway's land, we will not let anyone else to occupy it." The chief justice said the court would not allow railway's land to be leased out for building housing societies. However, he permitted the leasing of the additional land for maximum up to three years. “If additional land is given to provinces, then the burden of selling it shall also rest with them. We will let the railways land be with the railways and if provinces have reservations, then they should file petitions in accordance with the law. "If provinces have any objections, they can take the legal route," Justice Nisar observed.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said Khwaja Saad Rafiq had lied about the price of locomotives, purchased by the previous government. He said the former railways minister purchased one locomotive for Rs470 million when the US dollar was equal to Rs104 in the open market. He said price of each locomotive purchased by Saad Rafiq has risen to Rs670 million now. “And all these locomotives have turned into scrap and are parked at the Mughalpura railways workshop,” added the minister. He claimed that his predecessor had caused an irreparable loss to the railways. He said the decision of the SC against Royal Palm Club was good for the railways and Pakistan as well.