The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the chief secretaries of all provinces as well as the defence secretary to retrieve the Pakistan Railways (PR) land occupied by security forces, Rangers, Frontier Corps (FC) and other private companies, and submit a report in this regard within three weeks. The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to cooperate with the PR in reclaiming the illegally occupied land. More than 3,300 acres of PR land is occupied by the army, Rangers and FC across the country.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry praised NAB’s interim investigation report over the financial irregularities in the Railways. NAB Additional Prosecutor General Akbar Tarar appeared before the court and submitted the interim investigation report about the irregularities in the Railways. He said that NAB had recovered Rs 60 million under the head of sale of scrap contracts awarded at throwaway prices. He also mentioned that an investigation into the award of illegal lease of PR land to the Gulf Club was in progress.
