 bill no  33 of  2007 the compulsory registration of marriages bill, 2007 by shri l rajagopal, mp a billto provide for the compulsory registration of all marriages solemnized in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the compulsory registration of marriages  act, 2007short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force at once5definitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state, and in all other cases, the central government;(b) "designated authority" means an authority or an officer appointed for thepurpose of registration of marriages under section 4; and10(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this actcompulsory registration of marriages3 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force,or in any custom or usage to the contrary, every marriage solemnized after the commencement of this act, shall be compulsorily registered5(2) it shall be the duty of the bridegroom to get his marriage registered with thedesignated authority within sixty days of the date of solemnization of the marriage in such manner as may be prescribed4 (1) the appropriate government shall, by notification in the official gazette,appoint an officer or an authority in each district for registration of marriagesappointment of designated authority(2) the designated authority shall maintain a register of marriage in such form andmanner as may be prescribed and shall also keep the record in electronic form10(3) the appropriate government shall prescribe the documents relating to solemnization of marriage to be furnished at the time of registration of marriage for record15(4) the designated officer or authority shall, if satisfied with the documents anddetails furnished by either party to the marriage for registration of marriage, issue a marriage certificate to such person5  any marriage which is not registered within sixty days of its solemnization shall notbe treated as a valid marriage and shall be null and voidmarriage without registration to be null and voiddisincentives6 any person who violates the provisions of this act shall not be entitled to anybenefit under any welfare scheme by the appropriate government or its agencies20penalty7 any person who fails to apply for registration of marriage within the prescribedperiod or furnishes false information or documents for registration of his marriage shall be liable to pay a fine which may extend to rupees twenty-five thousand8 the central government shall, after due appropriation made in this behalf, providesuch sums of money as it may think necessary for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide money25power to removedifficulty9 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient forremoving the difficulty30act to have overriding effect10 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding any provision inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force, but save as aforesaid, the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being applicable to marriagespower to make rules11 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules forcarrying out the purposes of this act statement  of  objects  and  reasonsin our country, marriage is considered as a sacred union our culture assigns a great value to the solemnization of marriage but, of late, there are numerous instances of abuse of the institution of marriage on many occasions unscrupulous husbands altogether deny marriage, leaving their wives in lurch, be it for seeking maintenance, custody of children or inheritance of property the cases of child marriage are reported from various parts of the country every year, lakhs of marriages are solemnized throughout the country but people do not opt for registration of marriages for one reason or another recently, the supreme court has observed that all marriages should be registered in order to prevent child marriages, check bigamy and polygamy, help women in exercising their rights of maintenance from husband and custody of children and enable widows to claim inheritance at present, there is no law providing for compulsory registration of marriages in the country in the states of maharashtra, gujarat, karnataka and himachal pradesh, government have enacted laws for compulsory registration of marriages the proposal for a uniform law for the country has been pending for the last many years therefore, it is high time that a law on compulsory registration of marriage is enactedthis bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesnew delhi;l rajagopalfebruary 9, 2007 financial  memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides that the apropriate government shall appoint designated authority or an officer for registration of marriages the expenditure in relation to union territories in this regard shall be borne by the central government clause 8 of the bill provides that the central government shall provide funds required for carrying out the purposes of the bill the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of rupees twenty crore is likely to be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one crore is also likely to be incurred memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 11of the bill gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this bill the rules will relate to the matters of detail only the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character————— a billto provide for the compulsory registration of all marriages solemnized in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto—————(shri l rajagopal, mp)mgipmrnd—379ls(s3)—07032007