The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on Thursday conditionally allowed the Pakistan Railways to lease its land for public use.
This was directed by a division bench of the apex court comprising three judges led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial.
During the hearing, Pakistan Railways submitted its business plan to lease land spread over 169,000 acres across the country.
CJP Bandial remarked that state institutions are not meant to engage in businesses in the traditional sense.
He quoted PIA, Steel Mills and other institutions examples.
In 2019, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) had banned the leasing of railways land for more than five years.
In 2021, SC had imposed a complete ban on leasing in the railway land case in Karachi.
The federal government had filed a revision against the lease ban order.
However, on Thursday, the court allowed conditional permission to the Railways to lease its land.
The conditions include not changing the status of the railways land without due legislation from the parliament or approval from the cabinet.
