Interim relief: Royal Palm admin to resume club management

Pakistan Railways told to file reply by September 1

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) has allowed Royal Palm Country Club administration to manage its services temporarily without disturbing the possession of Pakistan Railways (PR). Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza of the LHC passed the order on Monday on a petition filed by Mainland Hasnain Pakistan Limited, the Royal Palm administration. Supreme Court Bar Association president Syed Ali Zafar, Senator Aitezaz Ahsan, Advocate Umar Riaz and Advocate Haroon Rashid had appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner.

The judge held: “ to protect the integrity and the standard of services, as an interim measure, it is directed that the golf, sporting facilities and other services shall be managed by the petitioner’s club management without disturbing the possession of the PR”.

The respondents shall allow the club management to restore golf and sporting facilities for members, the judge said. The order said: the finance department shall be managed by the committee headed by KPMG, a chartered accountant firm, after the consent of both parties. Kamran Yousifi, a senior partner of KPMG, will head a committee comprising Pervaiz Qureshi, director of the club, and Ghulam Murtaza, railway board finance member. The committee has been directed to decide by a majority vote. The petitioner and the respondent will render full assistance to the head of the committee, the judge said.



The court order said that the committee would remit salaries of the employees of the club preferably by Monday (July 4). The committee will also remit the money for day to day affairs of the club, the judge said.

The judge directed Pakistan Railways, the respondent, to file a written reply on or before September 1, the next date of hearing.

Counsel for the petitioner said various clauses of the implementation agreement dated July 26, 2001, had been violated. They said without using a forum for arbitration, the respondents could not have taken over the possession of the golf club and its sports facilities. They said there was no clause in the implementation agreement, executed by the president of Pakistan with the petitioner, allowing the respondent to take possession of the premises. They also referred to the stay order granted by a civil court on March 10, 2016, in a suit filed by the petitioner.

They said that the golf facilities at the club required expertise to manage it and failing to do so would cause irreparable loss to the complex water and electric supply equipment there. The imported grass on the club lawns, the counsel said, required special care and was being ruined on account of hundreds of Railway Police personnel who had camped over there. The employees of the petitioner’s club had to be paid before Eid, they said. “Members are not being allowed entry to the club and several events, which have already been booked, cannot proceed as planned.”



The counsel said at present, they would not badger the court for vacation of possession by Pakistan Railway personnel. They requested that pending the decision of the stay application, and the main petition, the management of the club be permitted to manage various facilities till the next date of hearing.

Counsel for the Pakistan Railways said they had complied with the process provided for in law and under the agreement with the respondents before rescinding the implementation agreement. He said that the employees of the club would be taken back and that soon after Eid holidays, the club and its golf and sporting facilities would be opened for members. He said that the administration could hold the weddings and other events as per prior engagements and bookings.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2016.