The Supreme Court on Thursday set a fresh three-month deadline for states and union territories to frame necessary rules to make registration of marriage compulsory, irrespective of religion, after most of them failed to adhere to an earlier order.
A bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat, which took exception to some states making registration of marriages compulsory only for Hindus, ordered all states and union territories to file compliance reports after the deadline. Most states and union territories had not filed any compliance report.
The court noted that only Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim had complied with its February 14, 2006 direction to make registration of all marriages compulsory.
West Bengal informed the court that in December 2006 it amended the West Bengal Special Marriages Rules, 1969, Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Rules and Hindu Marriage Act to make registration of marriages compulsory.