Punjab and Haryana High Court allows registration of marriages through videoconferencing

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has allowed registration of marriages through video-conferencing as it has set aside the decision of the single bench.

The order was given by a division bench of Justices Ritu Bahri and Archana Puri on 9 March, while hearing the leave patent appeal.

The petitioner – Ami Ranjan and his wife Misha Verma – approached the court while filing an appeal against the decision of the single judge of the High Court, in which the petition was filed by the petitioners to quash the order issued by the deputy collector-cum. Marriage officer, Gurugram was dismissed. It was held that there was no provision for registration of marriages under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, without parties appearing in person before the Marriage Officer.

The appeal stated that the wife, a medical professional, was in the United States on COVID-19 emergency duty and the husband wanted to go there to meet his wife, but for this he had to attach a marriage certificate to obtain a visa. An application for. In this background, due to the lack of marriage certificate, the parties were facing unprecedented hardship.

The court rejected the decision of the single bench, which refused to allow the registration of marriages through videoconferencing, with the husband not seeking complete waiver of his wife’s appearance before the registrar of marriages. He wanted his wife to be allowed to appear through videoconferencing so that the marriage could be registered.

“.. In this case, the presence of Misha Verma [wife] Can be secured through video-conferencing and marked by the presence of husband Ami Ranjan and three witnesses at the Office of the Registrar of Marriage. Then, the marriage certificate can be issued as a validation of the facts under Sections 15 and 16 of the Special Marriage Act. Once a marriage certificate is issued, it can be made part of the public record under section 47 of the Act by filing it in the marriage certificate book. Section 47 of the Act will not be violated, ”the court said.