Aadhaar and Marriage Registration: The New
Development
With Aadhaar
or the Unique Identification Number (UID)
slowly but eventually taking over the domain of as a repository for all
information on a person, the latest development is the recommendation by the
Law Commission to the Govt that registration of marriages be linked with
Aadhaar No as well, to ensure that false particulars are not submitted in lieu
of marriage, and so that universal tracking of records would be possible. If
the same is implemented by the Govt, Aadhaar would also become linked to
marriage records, making the privacy risk ambit of the 12-digit number wider,
with added information falling in its purview apart from the already included details
of Bank Account No, Mobile No, PAN Card, etc. Other documents that can be
linked to Aadhaar include Pension Account, Scholarship Account, Ration Card,
Voter ID Card, LPG Connection, etc. In the absence of stringent and fool proof
cyber security, the privacy of every citizen is at peril, since all relevant
social, financial, and biometric information regarding the person is contained
in a single repository.
The Law Commission Report: An Overview
The 270th
Report (“Compulsory Registration of Marriages”) of the Law Commission headed by retired Supreme
Court judge Justice B S Chauhan was submitted to the Govt of India on 4th
July 2017, in response to a query put forth by the Legislative Department on 16th
February 2017, asking the Commission to submit a Report with regard to various
issues relating to the compulsory registration of marriages in India. One of
the questions probed by the Department was whether it is enough to pursue
amendments in the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 as per the Registration
of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2015 or it must go ahead to frame a ‘separate standalone legislation to provide
for compulsory registration of marriages, in order to bring uniformity in all
laws, including the Central and State Personal Laws’[i].
The Commission in turn proposes to amend the Registration of Births and
Deaths Act, 1969 to include the compulsory registration of marriages within its
purview[ii].
The Report clarifies that its aim is to eliminate practices like early/forced
marriages, and is not aimed at eliminating diversity of personal laws; on the
other hand accepts prevailing customs/ or personal laws concerning
solemnization of marriage; provided that these marriages are registered under
the Compulsory Registration of Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act or
any other law for the time being in force in the State[iii].
The Report upholds the validity of unregistered marriages solemnized through
religious ceremonies, but recommends that an unregistered marriage is not to be
treated as ‘void’ but small penalties may be attached to non-registration in an
attempt to encourage registration[iv].
The Report
examines in detail global practices regarding registration of marriages across
the world, various Personal laws in India relating to the registration of
marriages (The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, The Kazis Act 1880, The Anand
Marriage Act, 1909, The Special Marriage Act, 1954, The Hindu Marriage Act,
1955, etc.). It also examines the Acts and Rules enacted in various States and
Union Territories in India to compulsorily register marriages. The major
judicial decision on the subject came in Seema
v Ashwani Kumar[v]
when the Supreme Court directed that the States
and the Central Governments to take steps to make marriages of all persons who
are citizens of India belonging to various religions compulsorily registrable
in their respective States. The Registration of Births and Death Acts, 1969,
provides for Registration establishments consisting of Registrar-General, Chief
Registrar and Registration Division and Registrars in each State and Union
territory[vi].
The Report therefore recommended that the above Act be amended to include
Registration of marriage as well within its scope so that existing
administrative machinery is able to carry out registration of marriages in
accordance with the specified procedures[vii].
The IT aspect and the recommendation
regarding Aadhaar Integration
The Report
clearly stated that the central purpose of the proposal of amendment is to
create a central civil registration portal that consists of records of birth,
marriage and death and to provide convenient access to the documents. It
explicitly stated that “… if registration
of marriage is linked to the unique identification number (UID), it would be
possible to achieve universal tracing of records.”[viii]
In the Chapter on conclusions and Recommendations, the Report maintains
that compulsory registration of marriages is a necessary reform[ix]
and that complete automation process may be adopted for facilitating paperless
documentation to the greatest extent possible.
Reading from
the recommendations, and in light of the Govt.’s move of integrating major
social information relating to citizens with their respective UIDs, it is
possible that the Law Ministry may choose to accept the LC’s Recommendation, in
which case it would soon become mandatory to link Marriage Certificates with
Aadhaar Cards.
It would have
major implications on the privacy of all citizens, since it would mean that now
the matrimonial details would also be added to the central repository which
already has been linked with PAN, Mobile No, etc.
·
The most important implication is that of the
impending risk of privacy infringement, considering that the cyber security
laws and technologies are not always foolproof.
·
A positive aspect is that it will reduce the
risk and chances of marriages under false identities and forced marriages.
·
The Govt will have solid and conclusive evidence
regarding marriage disputes on the question whether such a marriage did indeed
take place.
·
However, for this to come into practical
application of linking Marriage Certificates to Aadhaar, first the Govt will
have to ensure 100% enrollment of our population in Aadhaar, since the uniform
application of the marriage law would depend on that too.
·
It is important to note that non-registration
will not render marriages void, even if the compulsory provision comes into
being. The Commission recommended[x]
“retention of the provisions in the Registration
of Birth and Death (Amendment) Bill, 2015 regarding (i) penalty of rupees five
per day in case of non-registration of marriage without a reasonable cause..” but
the penalty is not to exceed a maximum of Rs.100.
[i] Para
1.16, Page 5 of the 270th Report of the Law Commission of India,
available at http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/reports/Report270.pdf
[ii] Para
1.17, ibid
[iii]
Para 1.18, ibid
[iv]
Para 3.2, Page 10, ibid
[v]
2006 (2) SCC 578
[vi]
Para 6.5, Page 27, Supra Note iv
[vii]
Para 6.6, ibid
[viii]
Para 7.5, Page 33, ibid
[ix]
Para 8.11, Page 37, ibid
[x]
Para 8.12, ibid
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