Delhi High Court: The Bench of Vibhu Bhakru, J.allowed petition filed by foreign citizens and directed the Registrar of Marriage to issue Certificate of Marriage to them.
Petitioners, in this case, were working in the British High Commission, New Delhi. One of them was a Canadian citizen while other was a British citizen. They got married in terms of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and filed an application for registration of marriage. However, the Certificate of Marriage could not be issued as the software used by the Registrar’s Office did not accept data regarding the marriage of two foreign citizens; at least one party (either husband or wife) had to be an Indian citizen. Thus present petition was filed through Jai Bansal, Advocate.
The High Court noted that marriage of two foreign citizens can be registered under the Special Marriage Act. Also, the factum of the marriage of petitioners was not disputed. It was also noted that the petitioners had complied with the provisions of the Act in making a declaration in terms of Proviso to Section 12(2). In such view of the matter, it was held that the Registrar was required to issue a certificate in terms of Section 13 in the form as set out in the Fourth Schedule of the Act. Thus the present petition was allowed by directing the petitioners to appear before the Registrar on 29-01-2019. The Registrar was directed to issue the certificate and to take necessary steps for upgrading and modifying the software for registration of marriages and issuing of certificates. [Bhumika Mohan Jaisinghania v. Registrar of Marriage, 2019 SCC OnLine Del 6538, Order dated 14-01-2019]
