August 6, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 7, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, Aug 5: The RCB elected members formed two committees to judge tax-related cases and to take stock of the decisions taken after the implementation of the Cantonment Ordinance 2002 from July 1, 2003.

This was decided in a meeting of the elected members held at the private office of the board’s vice-president Chaudhry Tanvir Ahmed on Shami Road on Tuesday. The RCB president and chief executive officer were not invited.

All the elected members, except one, attended the meeting, including Haji Ijaz, Malik Ghulam Raza, Ghulam Habib Rana, Khadim Hussain, Raja Jehandad, Shaukat Mehmood, Haji Zafar Iqbal, Chaudhry Mohammad Nawaz, Shamoon Gill and Hafiz Hussain Ahmad Malik. Ameer Ali Hakimjee did not attend. The nominated 12 members also did not attend the meeting.

The meeting was informed that the posts of RCB president and CEO had seized to exist after the enforcement of the Cantonment Ordinance 2002 so there was no need to inform the two about the meeting.

When contacted, the RCB chief executive officer, Khawaja Iftikhar Mir, said the Cantonment Act 1924 had partially been repealed, only with regard to election-related clauses. He said the elected members had also become non-entities after the implementation of the new ordinance. He said under the ordinance, new elections should be held to elect members on the pattern of the local government system.

He admitted that the full board existed, but its meeting could not be held so far as the case was in the Supreme Court.

We have to maintain status quo until the court gives its final decision, he said.

At present, the cantonment affairs are run administratively and not through the board, he said, and added that the meeting had no importance.