July 22, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, July 21: The elected members of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) have requisitioned a special meeting of the full board.

The meeting has been convened under section 37(2) of the Cantonment Act 1924. All the 12-elected members, in a written request have contended that they had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, challenging the notification of varying the board. The member of the single bench, Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq, allowed the petition and declared the notification and its further extension unlawful.

The requisition further states that a division bench of the same court has also upheld the verdict and suspended only that part of the orders in which the decisions of the mini-board, since its inception, had been declared nul and void. As such, the elected board stands restored and the notification of the constitution of the three-member mini-board has also been set aside.

“The public at large residing within the cantonment areas has been facing problems due to the non-existence of their representation in the board. In these circumstances, it would be appropriate, just and lawful to convene a special meeting of the cantonment board consisting of elected and unelected members,” the requisition, signed by vice president Chaudhry Tanvir Ahmad Khan, Haji Mohammad Ijaz, Malik Ghulam Raza, Ghulam Habib Rana, Seth Amir Ali Hakim Gee, Raja Jehandad, Chaudhry Khadim Waraich, Haji Zafar Iqbal, Chaudhry Shaukat Mehmood, Chaudhry Mohammad Nawaz, Shamoon Gill and Hafiz Hussain Ahmad Malik, said.

On the other hand, the RCB authorities are reluctant to convene the session of the full board.

The RCB station commander, Brig Khamid Khalil, when asked as to when they would convene the session of the full board, said he had not yet received the requisition notice. He said the board had been varied by the government.