RAWALPINDI: Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench has issued notice to the Military Lands and Cantonment to submit reply within 14 days regarding formation of a mini-board after expiry of the tenure of the elected members.

Justice Shahid Jamil issued the notice on a writ petition filed by elected members of the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) against the formation of the three-member board.In the petition, CCB Vice President Raja Irfan Imtiaz through his lawyer Razaq A. Mirza contended that he was elected in the 2015 elections and according to the law would continue working till notification of the new elections.

The counsel said the government violated the law by issuing a notification to form the three-member board. Under Section 14 (2) of the Act, the board cannot be dissolved until an emergency arises.

Meanwhile, Military Lands and Cantonment (ML&C) Department has sought suggestions from cantonment boards across the country about the local government elections in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A senior official of ML&C told Dawn that the tenure of existing boards ended on December 9, 2019, and one year’s extension was given to them. Now, the next local government elections are required to be held within 120 days under provision of sub-section 4 of Section 219 of the Election Act 2017.

“In this connection, certain procedures/actions have already been completed as required by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). However, remaining ones were pended due to the coronavirus pandemic.”

He said the ECP had drawn attention towards a recent review made by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) regarding the situation of Covid-19 in the country where a significant reduction of new cases had been found in the country.

As a result, he said, NCOC has eased out different restrictions, including opening of restaurants, hotels, shrines and other business. The educational institutions have also been allowed to open.

As the conduct of the local government elections in the cantonment boards is the constitutional obligation of the ECP, a report has been sought from the ML&C department as to whether an election programme may be issued by the ECP after October 2020 or otherwise, keeping in view the situation of the pandemic.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2020