The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed two foreign nationals from Canada and the United States working in Delhi to solemnise and register their marriage in the national capital.
A single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh asked the couple to approach the Sub-Divisional Magistrate on January 17 to submit the form for solemnisation of marriage. The bench was hearing a plea filed by the Hindu-Christian couple from the US and Canada, seeking registration of marriage in India. The issue concerns the registration of marriage of a couple who are not Indians but have been in India for six months, looking to marry and continue staying in India.
It has been submitted that to solemnise their marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, the couple was advised to apply for the same through the Delhi government’s official website, www.edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in. However, once the couple filled in their respective particulars on the website and clicked ‘submit’, they were prompted with an error message which read: “At least one party should be Indian”.
The couple then visited the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and enquired about the issue. They attempted to impress upon the office of the SDM that there is no bar on foreign citizens who wish to marry in India, particularly when they have been residing in India.
The couple was informed that the website required the inputs to be made in a particular manner and that it is beyond the SDM control to accept their application.
The couple was informed that there is no procedure to apply for solemnisation of marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 in an offline mode, the plea added.
The plea referred to the High Court judgment wherein the court allowed the facilitation of registration of the marriage of two foreign nationals under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 through offline mode and directed the department to take expeditious steps to amend relevant guidelines and make necessary changes in the e-portal to enable foreign nationals, whose marriages are solemnized in Delhi, to apply on the e-portal for registration of their marriage.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner referred to the Special Marriage Act, which says any person can solemnise a marriage. Additionally, the counsel appearing for the department agreed with the petitioner and submitted that the department is reconsidering making changes in the portal for the registration of the marriage.
The court has directed the Delhi government to place a status report record giving the details of steps taken for amending the guidelines and making changes to the e-portal.
The court has also directed the secretary of the department to appear before it in person on January 19 since the guidelines and the e-portal for the solemnisation of marriage have not been changed even though directions were passed in 2019.
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