Daily Times

The Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction with the Cantonment Board report regarding removal of educational & commercial buildings etc from the cantonment areas across Pakistan.

A three-member SC bench – comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ayesha A Malik – rejected the report and ordered the Cantonment Board to submit a new report in this regard.

During the course of proceedings, Justice Munib said the report contained advertisements regarding removal of schools, which were issued in the year 2021, and asked about those issued in 2019 and 2020 for eviction of schools from cantt areas. The counsel for Cantonment Board said all the advertisements were present on record and only 2021 advertisements were included in the report to facilitate the court.

Justice Ijaz asked the counsel to submit details about issuing of public notices to remove educational institutions. Later, the case was adjourned for four weeks. Meanwhile, the court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit details of re-poll in Tehsil Sarai Naurang.

A three-member bench – comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed – heard the case.

The ECP had ordered re-polling at six polling stations in Lakki Marwat’s Sarai Naurang where women were barred from casting votes during the first phase of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) local body elections last month. During the course of proceedings, Chief Justice Bandial said that constitutional and legal institutions should be independent and sovereign. Advocate Kamran Murtaza’s counsel Latif Khosa said that a re-poll was ordered in Sarai Naurang after the situation deteriorated during the election of the chairperson. He said that no votes were cast at only one polling station in the tehsil and voting at others was held as per schedule.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked about the incident of firing outside the women’s polling station which resulted in one person being killed. He said that according to the returning officer’s report the ECP had ordered for a re-poll owing to the deteriorating law-and-order situation. He said that women did not go out to cast their votes out of fear. Advocate Latif Khosa maintained that he believed in the sovereignty of the ECP as he was not affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). However, the commission should have submitted a fair report, he added. Chief Justice Bandial said there were a total of 108 polling stations in the constituency and the JUI had won. He said that constitutional and legal institutions should be independent and sovereign. The ECP’s director-general law pleaded the court for additional time to submit their reply.

Kamran Murtaza said that the ECP had ordered a re-poll on February 13 and requested the court to make a decision on the case before that date.

Later, hearing of the case was adjourned until February 8.

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