Business activities not the job of government; CJP.

ISLAMABAD -- Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday remarked that this was an admitted fact in Pakistan and internationally that business activities were not the job of state institutions.

He said that any of the state institutions had to take permission from the Parliament before involving into business activities.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial heard the case regarding the lease of Railways' land.

The CJP remarked that the state institutions were facing losses because they were overburdened.

The top court also granted permission to Pakistan Railways to lease its land for public use. However, it declared that the status of the lands couldn't be changed after the lease. The court also instructed the railways to get legislation regarding its lands from Parliament or the cabinet.

During the hearing, Pakistan Railways submitted the business plan of its land following the court directives. Additional Attorney General Aamer Rehman said that the railways had a total of 169000 acres of land. He said that 126000 acres land was being used for operational purposes while 16742 acres of land had been allocated for future planning.

The AAG said that 9070 acres of land was currently on lease while 6000 acres were not in any use. He said that after the ban of SC on land lease the profit worth Rs2.5 billion to the railways was stopped.

The CJP remarked that the railways had not submitted the details...