Announcing a decision, the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Nazim Hussain Siddiqui has dismissed the petition challenging Punjab government's orders relating to serving food on the eve of marriage and 'Walima' and declared that Punjab government's orders are lawful. But in the rest of the three provinces viz. Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP, no similar law has been enacted as yet by the respective governments?
In early 1997 the federal government enforced the Wasteful Expenditure on Marriage Ordinance, imposing a ban on serving any kind of food during marriage functions, but influential people served lavish wedding meals in marriage functions, consisting on many dishes and openly violated the Ordinance without any fear of law.
The ban on wedding meals was also previously challenged in the Supreme Court by the caterers, restaurant owners and poultry farmers with the plea that ban on serving wedding meals was against injunctions of Islam.
After hearing the petition, the Supreme Court on November 8, 2002 had allowed serving of meals at valima and other marriage functions and ruled that such legislation was a provincial subject falling in the concurrent list. The Court has also held that the provinces should independently legislate to stop wasteful expenditure on marriages.
After the Supreme Court ruling, the legislators of the Punjab Assembly have recommended that the host can offer one-dish meal without any sweet dish only to a maximum number of 300 guests.
The definition of one-dish meal was that the host should either offer bread and curry or rice and curry in all marriage-related functions. The host from the groom and the bride side was asked to inform the District Nazim before holding such marriage functions.
In case the number of guests exceeds 300 in such a function, the host was asked only to serve soft drinks or soup, and the serving of a single dish will amount to a violation of the law and the violators was to be fined from Rs100,000 to Rs300,000. District coordination officers were also given the powers to implement the law.
It is regretted that legislators of Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP could not legislate similar law after the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on November 8, 2002 that has resulted in wasteful marriage expenses and an extra burden for those people who were unable to afford the same and were under-compulsion to meet such expenses for the sake of maintaining self dignity.
The federal government should persuade Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP governments to legislate similar law in the provinces, so that there should be uniformity in the law of wasteful expenditure of marriages in the country and the law should be enforced in the entire country.