Marriage Under Special Marriage Act Can Be Registered Through Video-Conferencing : Supreme Court Upholds High Court Judgment

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by the State of Haryana challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's order of granting marriage certificate under the Special Marriage Act 1954 through video conferencing due to the wife's inability to travel from the USA to India on account of travel restrictions."Law has to march along with technology" ,a Division Bench comprising Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice V. Ramasubramanian orally observed. "Special Marriage Act, 1954 was enacted in 1954 whereas whereas the technology of Computer and Internet was introduced in later years. Therefore, the law has to march along with technology. Where there is difficulty, the letter of law cannot be so rigid that it makes it impossible for the parties to follow. Moreover, the registration department is there to facilitate the parties and not to create obstruction or hurdles for the parties", the bench orally said. The Top Court also directed the Deputy Commissioner- cum-marriage officer to comply with the High Court's directions within 45 days. In the present matter, the State of Haryana had approached the Apex Court challenging the judgment dated March 9, 2021, delivered by the Division Bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Archana Puri of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh. Facts The respondents solemnized their marriage on December 17, 2019, and thereafter returned back to their respective workplaces in the United Kingdom and United States. They filed an application for registration of their marriage before the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Marriage Officer, Gurugram and also made a request to the Marriage Officer to permit the wife to appear through video conference for the purpose of moving the application for registration of marriage. Although the Marriage Officer called them to appear before him on April 3, 2020 but due to the spread of CoVID 19 pandemic, they could not return to India. Due to this, the husband made an application with a request for second motion to conduct through video conference pleading that since the wife was a medical professional she had been put on CoVID 19 emergency duty in the United States. The appellant could only go to meet his wife after attaching a marriage certificate along with an application for obtaining VISA, however the request was rejected by the Marriage Officer. On account of lack of marriage certificate, parties were facing hardships and therefore they approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking quashing of letter dated August 11, 2020 issued by the Deputy Collector-cum-Marriage Officer, Gurugram. The Single Judge observed that there was no provision for registration of the marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 ("Act, 1954") without parties appearing in person before the marriage officer. The parties thereafter approached the Division Bench of the High Court. The High Court while allowing the appeals and observing that the wife's presence could be secured through video conferencing noted that, "The husband was not seeking complete exemption of appearance of his wife-appellant No.2 who was working in the USA before the Registrar of Marriage. He was seeking that his wife should be allowed to appear through video conferencing, so that the marriage could be registered. Appellant's wife was employed in Virginia University School of Medicine as Resident Doctor. Now, she was working in J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital at 1 Medical Center Drive, Morgantown, West Virginia 26505, United States. The appellants solemnized marriage on 07.12.2019 according to Hindu rites and ceremonies in the presence of their respective families at Gurugram (Haryana)."The court also went on to note as follows:"In this case, the presence of Misha Verma can be secured through video conferencing and the presence of husband Ami Ranjan and three witnesses can be marked by their appearance in the office of Registrar of Marriages. Then, the certificate of marriage can be issued on verification of facts as contemplated under Sections 15 and 16 of the Special Marriage Act. Once the marriage certificate is issued, it can be made part of the public record under Section 47 of the Act by entering it into the Marriage Certificate Book. There shall be no violation of Section 47 of the Act. The entire process can be done after seeking the presence of Misha Verma, wife of appellant No.1-Ami Ranjan through video conferencing. For all intents and purposes, this would be a valid marriage certificate." Averments In The Plea The order was assailed on the ground that the High Court had totally failed to consider and appreciate the material facts that as per the marriage certificate the factum of conditions prescribed by Section 15 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 ("Act, 1954") having been fulfilled, the Act required the parties to make an application under their own signatures and to join the...

Marriage Under Special Marriage Act Can Be Registered Through Video-Conferencing : Supreme Court Upholds High Court Judgment

Shruti Kakkar

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