New Delhi, March 05 (HS): The Delhi High Court has ordered the Centre and Delhi Government to follow the Supreme Court’s order to make marriages compulsory. A bench headed by Chief Justice DK Upadhyay directed the Center and Delhi Government to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s order within three months.

The High Court directed the Centre and Delhi Government to file a status report in this regard within three months. The next hearing of the case will be on July 9.

The petition has been filed by Akash Goyal. The petition states that the Supreme Court had clearly stated in its decision in 2006 that registration of marriages is mandatory. The petition states that the mechanism of registration of marriages is very difficult, due to which those who get the registration done face a lot of trouble.

During the hearing, the Delhi Government said that rules have been made for the registration of marriages as per the order of the Supreme Court. On 21 April 2014, the Delhi government had issued an order with some provisions for compulsory registration of marriages. Then the petitioner pointed out many flaws in these rules. During the hearing, the court said that these rules are of executive nature. For this, the government should make a law according to the order of the Supreme Court so that the registration of marriages is done without any hassle.

The petition has demanded to direct the central government to make rules for creating a centralized database for the registration of marriages. In fact, the Supreme Court had ruled in February 2006 that all marriages, irrespective of their religion, should be compulsorily registered.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar