The Assam cabinet on Friday decided to scrap an 89-year-old legislation that dealt with registration of marriages and divorces for Muslims living in the state.
“Our Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced that Assam will implement a Uniform Civil Code. Today, we have taken a very important decision in the process of repealing the 1935 Assam Code. Sam State Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act,” Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah informed.
Also read UCC Act: Understand the provisions and legal background
The bill provides for voluntary registration of Muslim marriages and divorces and allows the government to provide a license to a Muslim person authorizing him to register Muslim marriages and divorces upon application.
“Today’s development means that Assam will no longer be able to register Muslim marriages and divorces under this legislation. We already have the Special Marriage Act and we want all marriages to be registered under the provisions of the Act,” Barua said .
He revealed that Assam currently has 94 authorized persons who can register Muslim marriages and divorces. But as per the cabinet decision, their powers will cease to exist after district authorities issue instructions for the same.
“As these people make a living by registering marriages and divorces, the national cabinet decided to provide them with a one-time compensation $Two hundred thousand each. “Barua said.
He said besides taking a step towards a Uniform Civil Code, the Cabinet saw the need to repeal the Act, which is old, has been in place since the British era and is not in line with today’s social norms.
“We have noticed that existing legislation is being used to register marriages of boys and girls below the permitted age. We feel that today’s move will be a big step forward in curbing such child marriages,” the minister said.
Also Read – Assam Congress shaken as two MLAs extend support to Sarma-led government
On February 12, CM Sarma said his government plans to bring in strong legislation to ban polygamy and implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state.
“We are following the legislation (prohibiting) polygamy but Uttarakhand has passed the UCC (Bill). We are now working on harmonizing the two issues so that we can come up with strong legislation. We are working on it That question,” Salma said.
Also Read – Over 1.59 lakh people declared ‘foreigners’ in Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
He mentioned that the expert committee will study how to harmonize polygamy and uniform marriage laws in the same legislation.
The government had planned to introduce a bill banning polygamy in the ongoing budget session of Parliament, but it has yet to be implemented.