The Supreme Court on Saturday gave former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique a month to submit his response in a suo motu case pertaining to the losses racked up by Pakistan Railways allegedly during his tenure.

In April, the SC had asked a chartered accountancy firm, A F Ferguson, to carry out a forensic audit of Pakistan Railways to find out reasons behind colossal losses the department has faced during the past five years.

Earlier, a member of the railways' finance department informed the apex court that the department had faced losses to the tune of Rs163 billion during the past five years. He added that the railways had generated a total revenue of Rs180bn.

Rafique, who was not present in court when today's hearing commenced, was summoned to the Lahore registry of the SC by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar to submit his reply to an audit report of Pakistan Railways.

Upon reaching the court, Rafique told the court that he was not a "technical expert" and thus cannot comment on a "thousand page long audit report".

"I have an election coming up, the court should give me at least a month to submit my response to the findings of the report," Rafique said in court.

He also asked if he had been specifically named in the report. "Does it say that I am responsible for any financial discrepancies?" Rafique asked.

The chief justice, on the other hand, told Rafique that he should hire a lawyer and respond to the questions asked by the court.

During an exchange between Rafique and Justice Nisar, the former railways minister said that he always comes to court expecting praise but always gets scolded in return. To this, the chief justice said that no one was scolding Rafique and he should "leave his ego at home while visiting the court".