RAWALPINDI, Aug 12: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) regarding interim relief against the verdict of the Lahore High Court (LHC) which restored the elected board.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Justice Sheikh Riaz referred the case to the LHC double bench to be heard at the principal seat at Lahore. The judge, agreeing with the remarks of defence counsel Syed Zafar Ali Shah, observed that interim relief should be sought from LHC double bench. The SC can be approached only if the verdict of the double bench is to be challenged.

The cantonment board was represented by Munir Paracha advocate. RCB executive officer Kh Iftikhar Mir and some other members of the mini-board were also present when the case was opened in the chamber of the chief justice.

On the request of petitioner, the judge remanded the case to the principal seat for early hearing due to holidays of the double bench in Rawalpindi Bench of the LHC. He also issued directives that the case be heard in the first week of September.

Earlier, the petitioner, in his arguments, contended that interim relief was necessary as the elected board stood restored and holding sessions thereby was creating problems for the RCB administration. The elected members, he further argued, held a session a few days ago and the members of the mini-board and administration officials were not allowed to attend it. The whole official work of the civic body has come to a standstill and development projects have been stopped, he added.

Opposing this, the defence counsel, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, argued the elected members’ meeting was according to rules and regulations. The new Cantonment Ordinance 2002 has been implemented, according to which the designations of the RCB executive officer and station commander have changed.

Accordingly, the incumbent CEO and station commander stand relieved and new officers have yet to be appointed in their place. He also questioned the validity of the appeal filed by officers who had lost authority after the implementation of the new ordinance.

It is to recall that a single bench of the LHC (Rawalpindi Bench) had restored the elected board of the Rawalpindi Cantonment on July 14, 2003. A double bench of the apex court also maintained the decision of the single bench and suspended only a portion of the LHC single bench decision, thereby giving only partial relief to the civic body. The double bench turned down the appeal of the RCB authorities regarding complete suspension of the single bench verdict.

The dismissal of the case by the apex court, denying full relief to the cantonment is a big blow for the authorities of the civic body who are perturbed by the meetings of the elected board.

Now there has been total confusion as to who rules the roost. The elected members claim it is the full board which holds sway in the cantonment, while the administration officials say they will maintain status quo as long as the court has not issued final order on their case.