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ISLAMABAD:
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Friday sought a detailed report from the Pakistan Railways (PR) on widespread encroachment and illegal occupation of the country’s land.
The court directed the department to explain the steps it has taken to reclaim its property and the action taken against officials responsible for allowing encroachment.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice KK Agha heard the case related to the illegal occupation of railway land.
During the proceedings, Justice Rizvi questioned whether “anyone is there to stop the encroachment and occupation of railway proprietary land”, adding that railway land is a trust of the nation.
He lamented that at the time of Pakistan’s creation, the railway system was robust but “today the number of trains and tracks has been reduced to half”. He said railway hospitals and clubs had disappeared while “slums and industries have been built on railway land”.
The judge asked whether the land was intended to be used for encroachment and whether PR had any plan to utilize the land if recovered.
PR’s counsel submitted that 1,359 kanals of railway land in Rawalpindi had been allotted by the Punjab government to a katchi abadi and that even the Rawalpindi Railway Station fell under this land.
Advocate Shah Khawar added that Punjab had now admitted its mistake and 1,288 channels had been formally transferred back to PR.
Justice Rizvi went on to criticize the department, saying “railway officers are sitting in air-conditioned rooms”, leaving land vulnerable to illegal occupation. “If officers stay in AC rooms, there will be encroachment,” he observed.
