ISLAMABAD: Defence Secretary retired Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik has landed himself in trouble by attracting a contempt of court notice for not honouring his undertaking of holding the local government elections in all 43 cantonment boards.

“Prima facie the undertaking and the commitment earlier made has been disobeyed as a result whereof civil contempt within the definition of section 2 clause-a (ii) of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, read with Article 204 (3) of the constitution has been committed. Therefore, notice of contempt of court be issued to Asif Yasin Malik, the incumbent secretary defence, to proceed against him according to the procedure,” an order dictated by a three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, said on Friday.

Notice has also been issued to Attorney General Muneer A. Malik who will act as prosecutor in the contempt case, but he tried his best to rescue the secretary by stating that Mr Yasin had expressed complete remorse.

The court asked the secretary to put up his defence in 10 days. He is also required to explain in writing whether any variation (extension) has been given in the Cantonment Board Act 1924 after the last extension in tenure of cantonment boards expired on May 5 and, if not, under which authority the boards are still functioning.

“Cantonment boards are not unit of the army,” the chief justice observed.

The last elections were held in 1998 and the cantonment boards have been without public representation for 14 years in violation of article 140A(2) of the constitution.

On May 5 last year the former prime minister had granted a one-year extension to the cantonment boards. The period expired on May 5 this year.

The apex court extended the deadline for holding the elections to Sept 15 after it received a commitment by the defence secretary on July 2.

The court had taken up a petition filed in 2009 by former vice-president of the Quetta cantonment board Raja Rab Nawaz challenging the absence of local bodies in cantonment areas for 14 years.

“You don’t want to hold the elections only to keep the authority with you,” the chief justice regretted.

But the defence secretary, who was present in the court, explained that he had given the earlier commitment believing that the prime minister would approve the summary sent to him for holding the elections. “It is beyond my control,” he said.

On Sept 23, the attorney general informed the court that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was of the opinion that the elections would be meaningless in the presence of 50 per cent nominated members and wanted a new regime. The matter had been referred to a special 12-member cabinet committee headed by Science and Technology Minister Zahid Hamid on Sept 10. The committee was asked to submit its recommendations in 10 days.

The existing law envisaged a 25-member board half of which would be elected directly through the elections and the rest would be nominated by the station house commander, usually a serving brigadier, who also acted as president of the board.

Referring to the absence of local bodies in the four provinces, the Supreme Court regretted that neither the federal government nor the provincial governments were willing to hold the elections.

“It is our considered opinion that after having dissolved the local bodies in Balochistan on Jan 9, 2010, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Jan 30, 2010, Punjab on Feb 23, 2010, and Sindh on Feb 24, 2010, all the provincial governments had no option but to enforce the provision of article 140A of the constitution by holding the elections or adopting measures, including reviving the elected representatives who have completed their terms, by making appropriate amendment to the relevant laws either through ordinances or acts of the assemblies.

“Non-enforcement/non-adherence of the constitutional provisions as it has been pointed out time and again is not possible and all the citizens and functionaries, in terms of article 5 of the constitution, have no option but to follow the constitution,” the court emphasised.

The court adjourned the hearing till Oct 14 to enable all advocates general to inform it about their governments’ points of view.

Additional Attorney General Shahkhawar is required to inform the court about interim measures taken to enforce the constitutional provisions.

Notice has also been issued to Election Commission Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed Khan to explain why the process of holding the elections has not been started so far and whether the commission has received any request from any of the provincial governments.