'Promise only half kept': Supreme Court tells states, UTs to notify rules within 4 months on registering Sikh marriages

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed several States and Union Territories to notify rules within four months for registering Anand Karaj or the Sikh wedding, holding "when the law recognises it as a valid form of marriage yet leaving no machinery to register it, is the promise only half kept."

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, “The fidelity of a constitutional promise is measured not only by the rights it proclaims, but by the institutions that make those rights usable. In a secular republic, the state must not turn a citizen’s faith into either a privilege or a handicap."

What remains is to ensure that the route from rites to record is open, uniform and fair, the court said in its order September 4 in a writ petition filed by Amanjot Singh Chadha.

The court held that the availability of registration bears directly on equal treatment and on orderly civil administration.

The bench noted that a marriage certificate enables proof of status for residence, maintenance, inheritance, insurance, succession and the enforcement of monogamy, and it particularly safeguards the interests of women and children who depend on documentary proof to claim legal protections.

The court pointed out uneven access to a statutory facility across States and Union Territories produced unequal outcomes for similarly situated citizens.

“In a secular framework that respects religious identity while ensuring civic equality, the law must provide a neutral and workable route by which marriages solemnised by Anand Karaj are recorded and certified on the same footing as other marriages," the court said.

The plea sought directions to various states and UTs to frame and notify rules under Section 6 of the Anand Marriage Act, 1909, (as amended in 2012) to facilitate registration of marriages solemnised by the Sikh rite commonly known as Anand Karaj.

The bench noted that the 1909 Act was enacted to recognise the validity of marriages performed by the Sikh ceremony of ‘Anand Karaj’.

The bench said in its considered opinion, harmonisation with existing registration regimes is both practicable and necessary.

“Where a general civil marriage registration framework is in place, it must receive applications for registration of marriages solemnised by Anand Karaj on the same footing as other marriages and, if the parties so request, it should record that the ceremony was by the Anand rite," the bench said.

The court pointed out, by the 2012 amendment, Parliament inserted Section 6, casting a duty upon the States to make rules to facilitate registration of such marriages, to maintain a marriage register and to provide certified extracts, while clarifying that omission to register would not affect the validity of the marriage.

According to the petitioner, while a number of states and UTs had notified rules pursuant to Section 6, which deals with registration of marriages, several others had not yet done so.

Referring to Section 6, the court said it imposed a positive duty on every state to create a workable registration machinery for Anand Karaj marriages.

"That duty is not contingent on the size of the beneficiary group in any jurisdiction, nor can it be deferred on the footing that other marriage laws exist in parallel," it said.

The bench directed every respondent state and UT which hadn't yet notified rules under Section 6, to do so within four months.

"With immediate effect and until such rules are notified, each respondent shall ensure that marriages solemnised by Anand Karaj are received for registration under the prevailing marriage-registration framework without discrimination," it said.

The bench said States and UTs, which have already notified the rules under Section 6, should continue to operate them.

The bench directed the Centre to act as the coordinating authority and asked it to circulate within two months the model rules compiled from jurisdictions that had already notified Section 6 rules to any state or UT that seeks guidance.

The bench in specific directions to Goa, as an interim measure, asked the state to ensure all civil registration offices receive and process, without discrimination, applications for registration of marriages solemnised by Anand Karaj under the existing framework.

The court also directed the Centre to issue within four months an appropriate notification under Section 6 of the Goa, Daman and Diu (Administration) Act, 1962, extending the 1909 Act to Goa.

“As an interim measure, the state (Sikkim) shall ensure that all registering authorities receive and process, without discrimination, applications for registration of marriages solemnised by Anand Karaj under the existing Rules to provide for registration and solemnization of a Form of Marriage in Sikkim (1963)," the bench ordered.