There will be no commercial activities, wedding ceremonies on CAA lands from today

KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) offices on Sunday been notified to prevent wedding ceremonies on its lands after the top court had last week ordered the authority to halt running commercial activities on the land provided to it for aviation regulatory alone.

The CAA spokesperson said that all relevant offices of the aviation authority have been notified that from this point forward there will be no weddings in the halls and marquees built on the CAA lands. He said even the bookings carried out in the past will be considered cancelled henceforth and marquee owners will be given back their security deposits.

All those who have booked the place for their ceremonies will be recompensed within 10 days starting now, the spokesperson confirmed. The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down hard on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for running wedding halls on its land.

Hearing a case about CAA lands at the apex court's Karachi registry, a bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed directed the country's aviation regulator to end all the commercial activities other than airport-related services on its premises.

"It is not CAA's job to run wedding halls," the court remarked, instructing it to utilise the land for the purposes it was obtained for. Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, a member of the bench, questioned whether aviation regulators around the globe run marriage lawns. "If that is the case, then open night clubs and casinos as well," he berated CAA.