The committee expressed serious reservations over the sale of Railway land worth billions of rupees at throwaway price in Faisalabad. The committee showed anger over the non-action against the Railways lawyer, who submitted in the court a statement against the interest of Railways in the case. The committee directed the PR to register an FIR against the lawyer and produce a compliance report within 15 days. The committee underscored the need for strict vigilance. It asked Inspector Vigilance, who accompanies lawyers hired to represent Railways in courts, not to show any complacency.
While briefing the committee, Director Land Mian Mohammad Arshad said that a total of 5,110 acres of land was encroached upon. Supreme Court took notice of the issue and ordered PR to get the land vacated from encroachers. Till date, 2,457 acres of land was retrieved, while about 2,700 acres of land was still with encroachers.
He further said that 1,255 acres of land was retrieved from Pakistan Army, 436 acres from Rangers, 198 acres from residential area, 454.8 acres from private and 112 acres from commercial users. The committee expressed reservations and said the retrieved land was yet to be leased out or used for any other purpose.
Director Legal Affairs Dildar Hussain said the PR had a total of 2,304 cases in different courts, including 54 cases in the Supreme Court. Of these, people had obtained stay order in 171 cases. Hence, the cases are pending in courts, according to him.
He further said that PR had a total of 238 lawyers on its panel. Lawyers, hwo represent PR on a case-to-case basis, are appointed by the Ministry of Law and Justice and Human Rights, according to him. The committee also expressed reservations over the role of lawyers on PR panel who have failed to appear even in a single case during the last 5 years. It directed that a list of such lawyers should be tabled before the committee within 15 days.