LAHORE: The crowded courtroom No 1 of the Supreme Court at Lahore registry on Saturday witnessed a heated exchange between Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique during the hearing of a suo motu case regarding losses incurred by the Pakistan Railways during the last five years of the PML-N government.

“Behave yourself!” the chief justice told Mr Rafique when the latter said in a complaining tone that there was another court of Almighty Allah which was most supreme. The former minister also complained about a forensic audit of the railways ordered by the court for only his tenure. He said the audit of his predecessors should have also been carried out to have a comparison of his performance.

The PML-N stalwart further said he was busy with his by-election campaign but reached the court the moment he learnt about the summons.

PML-N leader has been given one month to file reply on audit report

“It seems that you have come with a plan to disrespect the court today,” Chief Justice Nisar told the former minister and warned him to leave his arrogance at home before coming to the court.

Mr Rafique interrupted the chief justice and said the court had no right to disgrace people appearing before it. He went on to say that the judges should strictly follow their code of conduct.

Chief Justice Nisar, however, made it clear that the court was not disgracing him (Rafique) and just asking him to file his reply to a report of the audit.

“I am not an accountant. How can I file my reply on this 1,000-page report within 10 days?” Mr Rafique further complained.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan, the other member of the two-judge bench, intervened and asked the former minister to remain cool. The judge allowed Mr Rafique 30-day time to file his reply to the audit report.

Earlier, the chief justice also reprimanded the legal adviser of the railways for trying to defend the former minister in the case.

The forensic audit report previously submitted by the AF Ferguson & Co stated that the railways had been operating under serious limitations and constraints making losses than revenue.

It showed that the railways incurred losses to the tune of Rs30 billion during the financial years 2012-13; Rs32bn in 2013-14; Rs27bn in 2014-15; Rs26bn in 2015-16 and Rs40bn in 2016-17.

The revenue made by the railways for the same period was Rs18bn, Rs22bn, Rs31bn and Rs36bn and Rs40bn.

The report stated during the five years, the increase in revenues had been more offset by the huge jump in expenditure and the loss worsened from Rs30bn in 2012-13 to Rs40bn in 2016-17. An annual loss in excess of Rs40bn was not sustainable, it added.

The report further revealed that the 70 per cent of the revenue had been used for the payment of pension to retired employees.

It said the railways had been working under constraints, including quality of age and age of tracks, quality and age of locomotives/coaches and quality and efficacy of telecommunication system.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2018