COUPLES tying the knot will no longer have to hunt for a gazetted officer to get their marriage registered,now that the procedure for registering a wedding under the Hindu Marriage Act has been simplified.
A PAN card or voter ID card is all that a person needs now to qualify as an official marriage witness.
Earlier, as per the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956 rule 4 (ii), a gazetted Central Government or State Government officer or other State Government officers posted in Delhi needed to testify before a Sub-divisional Magistrate that the marriage had been solemnised before them.
Only then could the wedding be registered and a marriage certificate issued.
This meant long queues and a hunt to locate a gazetted officer who would stand witness to the marriage.
All that should change now that the Lieutenant-Governor has amended the Hindu Marriage Act after the Divisional Commissioner of Delhi saw the problems couples were facing in registering their marriage.
“There were complaints about marriage certificates. The L-G is a competent authority to make amendments and hence the rule has been amended and notified recently,” a Ministry of Revenue official said.