Gauhati High Court: No Parental Consent Needed to Solemnize Marriage Under Special Marriage Act
The Gauhati High Court has ruled that a no-objection certificate or consent from parents is not required for solemnizing a marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The court made the observation while directing authorities to speed up the processing of a marriage application filed under the Act.
The petitioner had moved the High Court after the Marriage Officer failed to act on their application for solemnization of marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The petitioner's grievance was that the officer had refused to proceed solely because the petitioners had not provided a No Objection Certificate from their parents and had not secured their parents' presence before the Marriage Officer.
A Single Bench of Justice Arun Dev Choudhury held that the statutory scheme specifies the conditions to be fulfilled by the parties and the procedures to be followed by the Marriage Officer. "Neither parental consent nor a no-objection certificate from the parents is prescribed as a condition for the solemnization of a marriage between persons who fulfill statutory requirements," the court said, adding that the law is a secular legislation meant to let people solemnize their marriage under civil law without having to follow the personal law of either party.
The Bench also noted that it could not ignore the mandate of the Assam Right to Public Services Act, 2012, under which marriage registration falls. It accepted the Marriage Officer's action as unintentional and inadvertent, but added a caution: the 2012 Act was enacted with the noble object of ensuring delivery of notified public services to citizens within a stipulated time limit and to secure accountability of public servants entrusted with that responsibility.
The court disposed of the petition by directing the authorities involved in the registration of such marriages to strictly adhere to the timeline prescribed under the Act and to proceed with the application submitted by the petitioners under the Special Marriage Act. Advocate D Akram represented the petitioner, while the Government Advocate appeared for the respondent.
Source: Verdictum