Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday observed that the judges have no prejudice against anyone as they are just establishing the rule of law in the country. "We have no prejudice which your friends are accusing of nowadays," CJP Saqib Nisar told Federal Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafiq during hearing of a suo motu case against losses incurred by Railways. "We are just establishing rule of law which is causing some problem for them," he added.
"I have no problem," Saad responded to the Chief Justice and invited him to visit railways headquarters to have a brief presentation on the steps taken during his stint as minister. "I believe that you would definitely acknowledge our efforts," the minister said. The Chief Justice observed that he just wanted to correct the wrongdoings in the country and no one could deter his determination.
At one moment, the Chief Justice admonished the minister for taking a casual posture behind the rostrum. He also referred to an objectionable speech of the minister and directed the court's staff to show the same on an electronic projector. However, later he deferred the matter and reminded him to never think of disrespecting state institutions. The minister expressed his total regard for the state institutions saying he was even jailed during lawyers' movement for the restoration of judiciary. "Be careful, you can go to jail again," said the Chief Justice.
Talking about performance of Railways, Saad Rafiq told the court that the department was earning Rs 18 billion annually with a loss of over Rs 30 billion when he took over the charge as its minister some five years ago. He said now the railways had an annual earning of Rs 50 billion while the losses were to the tune of around Rs 35 billion. "I went against the policy of my own party which wanted to privatize this department," Saad Rafiq said and added, "All is not well but the shortcomings are now nominal."
The minister said at least 10 more years would be required to eliminate the whole losses of railways. "The sons of the late Khwaja Rafiq are not like their father," said the Chief Justice when Saad Rafiq identified himself as a son of the late eminent activist of Pakistan's movement. His brother, Punjab Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafiq, was also present in the court. Earlier, Railways Secretary Parveen Agha submitted the statistics of annual revenue and losses from 2012 to 2018. She said the huge amount of pension was the main reasons behind the losses. She said most of the losses were "historical baggage".
However, the Chief Justice rejected this argument and observed that the Railways should have generated revenue to meet the expenses of pensions. The Chief Justice observed that the court would go for an independent forensic audit of the Railways and would decide next week as to which company should be engaged for this purpose.
Comments
Comments are closed.