The Law Commission of India has communicated to the government the need for a new law to make the registration of marriages compulsory.
The intervention was based on a request from the Department of Legal Affairs in February 2017 that forwarded a request from the Legislative Department for ways to end the continued prevalence of practices such as child marriages, bigamy and gender violence in Indian society.
Bearing in mind the diversity of family laws, customs and traditions, it has endeavoured to create an all-India framework under which all marriages can be registered regardless of the differences in the procedure of solemnisation.
The Commission has found that the act of compulsory registration of marriage would be acceptable across the religious spectrum and that marriages can be registered under any of the prevailing marriage acts.
Multiple family laws
Such a law, the Commission said, would supplement the domain of family laws that already exist.
It accepted that the subject of personal laws is “wide and complex”, but said the rule on compulsory registration is only aimed as a “procedural change” to protect hapless women from fraudulent and illegal marriages. It suggested that the Registrar who is responsible for the registration of births and deaths shall be responsible for the registration of marriages as well.
The Commission recommended that an amendment Bill should provide that if the birth or marriage or death is not registered within the specified time limit, then the Registrar shall, on the payment of a late fee, register the death or birth (a) within a period of 30 days; (b) within one year, only with the written permission of the prescribed authority; and (c) after one year, only on an order of a First Class Magistrate.
It has also said production of a marriage certificate should be made mandatory for anyone applying for any benefit on behalf of the spouse; for making application to government departments; and for getting benefits of any welfare schemes like agricultural and education loans.
It said that though some States already provide web portals for online registration, it would be desirable to have a centralised national portal. The Commission opined that availability of forms and documents in regional languages must be ensured to make the portal easily accessible to all citizens.
