: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday upheld the ruling of a single judge that the power for cancellation of the marriage registration or correction of errors under the provisions of the Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules could be exercised only if an entry was erroneous in form or substance or had been fraudulently made.
The Bench headed by Justice Thottathil B.Radhakrishnan upheld the ruling while dismissing an appeal filed by a German-based NRI engineer against a single judge verdict refusing his plea to cancel his marriage. According to him, he got a marriage certificate after his engagement with Nethu. However, his relationship with the family of his bride got strained and he filed an application to get the marriage registration cancelled.
The single judge had ruled that when the parties filed an application jointly stating that their marriage was solemnized and when they produce proof of the same, the local registrar was duty-bound to register the marriage. The power of correction could be exercised with respect to the mistakes in the marriage certificate. The mistakes might be either committed by the local registrar while making entries in the certificate, or the mistakes might have been committed by the parties while submitting their memorandum for registration.
The single judge also ruled that the cancellation of the entries could be made only if the local registrar was satisfied that an entry in the Register of Marriages (Common) was erroneous in form or substance or had been fraudulently or improperly made. But the parties to the marriage could not approach the local registrar saying that for a particular purpose they had made a false entry and since that purpose could not be achieved, they want to resile from the declaration. The registration of a marriage to secure visa would be made only on the volition of the parties to the alleged marriage.
