A district and sessions court in Rawalpindi has ordered ride-hailing service Careem to use the term “captain of Careem Networks” for its drivers instead of just "captain", it emerged on Saturday.

The order dated Sep 14 — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — was issued by additional district judge Rawalpindi, Ashfaq Ahmed Rana while hearing a petition filed by an airline pilot who had complained to have faced “humiliation and disgrace” for sharing his job title with Careem's staff.

Labeeb Ahmed, a pilot by profession, had approached the court in July through his lawyer Chaudhry Rizwan Elahi in July, saying that he often has to bear the brunt of jokes as people deliberately confuse his job title with that of Careem captains.

The petitioner had argued that the title of captain should either be reserved for a pilot or a third-ranked officer of the armed forces, also known as a commissioned officer.

He had said such instances shattered his confidence and disgraced an aviation rank that was “attained after going through rigorous education and obtaining a commercial pilot license from the Civil Aviation Authority Pakistan.”

After hearing the plea, the court had temporarily barred Careem from using the word “captain” for its drivers and had also sought a response from the company's zonal manager on July 31.

In the July 31 hearing, the court again directed Careem to submit its written response on Sep 14.

However, after receiving no response from the company, the court issued an ex-parte judgement, directing the cab service to use the amended title for its drivers.