Live-in relationship rules under UCC to be amended: Uttarakhand govt in affidavit to HC

Nainital: The Uttarakhand government has filed a 78-page affidavit in the high court saying that a few provisions of rules under the Uniform Civil Code are being amended.

The affidavit submitted by Advocate General SN Babulkar before a division bench of Chief Justice G Narendra and Justice Subhash Upadhyay on October 15 states that the amendments relate to Rule 380 of the Registrar's Office, which lists the conditions under which a live-in relationship cannot be registered.

These include situations where the couple belongs to a prohibited level of relationship, if one or both are already married or living in another cohabiting relationship, or if one of the couple is a minor.

The affidavit read that the proposed changes focus on improving the process for registration and termination of cohabiting relationships, lending greater clarity in sharing information with the police, and extending the appeal period for rejected applications.

The amended provisions seek to limit the scope of data sharing between the registrar and the local police, making it clear that this is being done solely for "record-keeping purposes." The proposed amendments also include changes related to the mandatory use of Aadhaar as proof of identity in various registration and declaration processes.

These changes primarily aim to provide "flexibility" by allowing alternative identification documents in cases where applicants cannot provide Aadhaar, especially in cases where they are not the primary applicant.

The affidavit also said that an amendment proposes to increase the time period for applicants to challenge the registrar's decision rejecting a declaration of cohabitation from 30 days to 45 days from the date of receipt of the rejection order.