Supreme Court orders enforcement of ban on marriage feasts

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the federal and provincial governments to ensure implementation of its judgement passed last year for enforcement of prohibition of wasteful and exorbitant wedding feasts.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice M. Javed Buttar and Justice Tassaddaq Hussain Jillani issued the directive on an application submitted by a Karachi resident, Muhammad Azeem, regarding violation of the verdict.
It fixed the next hearing of the case for February 14. In a short order, the bench directed the chief secretaries of all the four provinces and Islamabad chief commissioner to take steps for implementation of the judgement.
Guests at public places, including hotels, restaurants, marriage halls, community centres and clubs can be entertained only with hot and cold drinks and soup under the Ordinance Number 2 of 2000 regarding marriage receptions.
According to the law only 300 guests can be served one-dish meals within the house.
The law officers appearing before the court on behalf of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan informed the bench that the three provincial governments had already issued notifications to the concerned authorities to register cases against violators.
The bench directed the Punjab government and the federal government to also issue notifications for implementation of the SC judgement and send copies of the same to all the bar associations as well.
It also directed that special officers be deputed at the district, tehsil and taluka levels within two weeks to lodge complaints.
The governments were asked to register names of hotels, restaurants and marriage halls across the country through the police and other departments in their jurisdiction.
Deputy Attorney General Raja Muhammad Irshad, Advocate General Punjab, Aftab Iqbal Chaudhry, Additional Advocates General of Sindh and NWFP, Qazi Khalid Ali and Saeed Khan Shangla respectively, appeared before the court. The Advocate General of Balochistan was represented by his nominee.