ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday sought explanation from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) about banning indoor marriages.
A single bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard a petition filed by Islamabad Marquees, Catering and Banquet Hall Association (IMCBA) through its chairman Mukhtar Abbas, and issued notices to the respondents.
The court directed the NCOC to appoint any senior officer to appear before the court on the next hearing and explain its position in this matter, and deferred the proceedings till November 18th. The petitioner moved the court though his counsel, Taimoor Aslam Khan Advocate, and cited deputy director (Operations) NCOC, secretary Ministry of Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and others as respondent.
Earlier, the NCOC called for a ban on large-scale public gatherings, ban on indoor marriages from November 20th and enhancing restrictions in high-risk areas as a second wave of the coronavirus sweeps through the country.
In the petition, the counsel challenged the suspension of indoor wedding functions from November 20th amid virus outbreak. He took the position that the marquees were banned but the government itself was holding large rallies.
During the hearing, the IHC bench asked the federal government to explain its “double standards”. He added that on the one hand, you banned large gatherings, [while] on the other the government continued to hold mega rallies. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that while indoor marriage functions were being banned, the government and the opposition parties were holding mega rallies. He said that a marquee could only be shut down, if it was found violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs).
He stated that the prime minister said that the government would not stop the wheel of the economy, then why this was happening with marquees.
He maintained that government should make a policy but it should not make 10,000 people lose their jobs.
He continued that they also did not want the court to interfere in the policy matters but, their opinion in the decision-making process must also be included.
The petitioner’s counsel adopted that the marriage hall and marquee operators had always through conduct ensured that all the SOPs and guidelines that were issued from time to time were complied with in letter and spirit, both pre- and post-pandemic. Being law abiding business operators, they have time and again urged the government to extend a fair treatment to them and to enable such a situation, where life and livelihood both are protected.
Therefore, he prayed before the court to declare the said notification of the NCOC of imposing ban on indoor weddings as being without any legal and rational basis, arbitrary and discriminatory and violative of Articles 4, 18 and 25 of the Constitution, and may please set the same at naught, in the interests of justice.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020