[7th
August, 2009] An Act to provide for
compulsory registration of all marriages in the State of Tamil Nadu and for
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto Be it enacted by the
Legislative Assembly of the State of Tamil Nadu in the Sixtieth Year of the
Republic of India as follows:- (1)
This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu
Registration of Marriages Act, 2009. (2)
It extends to the whole of the State of Tamil
Nadu. (3)
It shall come into force on such date as the
State Government may, by notification, appoint. In this Act, unless the
context otherwise requires,- (i)
“District Registrar” means a District
Registrar of Marriages appointed under sub-section (2) of Section 4; (ii)
“Government” means the State Government; (iii)
“marriage” includes all marriages performed
by persons belonging to any caste or religion under any law for the time being
in force, or as per any custom or usage in any form or manner and also includes
remarriage; (iv)
“memorandum” means a memorandum of marriage
referred to in Section 5; (v)
[2][“priest”
means any person who performs a marriage according to custom or usage or under
any law for the time being in force;] (vi)
“Registrar” means a Registrar of Marriages
appointed under sub-section (3) of Section 4; (vii)
“Registrar-General” means the
Registrar-General of Marriages appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 4; (viii)
“State” means the State of Tamil Nadu. Every marriage performed on
and from the date of commencement of this Act shall be registered under this
Act notwithstanding the fact that the said marriage had been entered in the
marriage registers governed by any other personal laws of the parties to the
marriage or custom or usage or tradition. (1)
The Government shall, by notification,
appoint a person to be the Registrar-General of Marriages for the State of
Tamil Nadu. (2)
The Government shall, by notification,
appoint a person to be the District Registrar of Marriages for each District
for carrying out the purposes of this Act. (3)
The Government shall, by notification,
appoint such number of persons as it thinks necessary, to be the Registrar of
Marriages for such local areas as may be specified in the notification, and one
or more Registrars may be appointed for one or more such areas for carrying out
the purposes of this Act. (4)
Every District Registrar and Registrar shall
exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be prescribed and shall be
under the general supervision and control of the Registrar-General. (1)
The parties to a marriage shall prepare a
memorandum in such Form as may be prescribed in duplicate and shall deliver it
in person [3][*
* *], to the Registrar of the area where the marriage is performed within
ninety days from the date of the marriage: [4][Provided
that where the parties to a marriage are unable to deliver the memorandum in
person, the Registrar may, after recording the special circumstances for not
presenting the memorandum in person, allow them to send the memorandum in such
manner as may be prescribed: Provided further that the
memorandum may be delivered in person or sent in the manner prescribed to the
Registrar within a further period of sixty days after expiry of the said ninety
days with the payment of additional fee as may be prescribed: Provided also that the
memorandum may be delivered in person or sent in the manner prescribed to the
Registrar after the expiry of sixty days specified in the second proviso with
the payment of further fee of one thousand rupees.] (2)
Nothing in the proviso to sub-section (1)
shall affect the liability of any person to any penalty under clause (a) of
sub-section (1) of Section 14. Every memorandum referred to
in Section 5 shall be signed by the parties to the marriage and by the priest
and two witnesses and shall be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed. (1)
Where the Registrar, before whom the
memorandum is [5][delivered
in person or sent in the manner prescribed] under Section 5 on scrutiny of the
documents filed with the memorandum or, on the other facts noticed or brought
to his notice, is satisfied or has reason to believe that,- (a)
the marriage between the parties is not
performed in accordance with the personal laws of the parties, or any custom or
usage or tradition; or (b)
the identity of the parties or the witnesses
or the persons testifying the identity of the parties and the performance of
the marriage is not established beyond reasonable doubt; or (c)
the documents tendered before him do not
prove the marital status of the parties, he may, after hearing the parties and
recording the reasons in writing, refuse to register the marriage and may,- (i)
call upon the parties to produce such further
information or documents as deemed necessary, for establishing the identity of
the parties and the witnesses or correctness of the information or documents
presented to him, or (ii)
if deemed necessary, also refer the papers to
the local police station within whose jurisdiction the parties reside, for
verification. (2)
Where, on further verification as provided in
sub-section (1), the Registrar is satisfied that there is no objection to
register the marriage, he may register the same. If in the opinion of the
Registrar, the marriage is not fit for registration, he may pass an order of
refusal in writing, recording the reasons therefor. (1)
Any person aggrieved by the order of the
Registrar under Section 7 may, within a period of thirty days from the date of
receipt of such order, appeal to the District Registrar in such manner as may
be prescribed: Provided that the District
Registrar may, within a further period of thirty days, admit an appeal
presented after the expiration of the first mentioned period of thirty days if
he is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not presenting the
appeal within the first mentioned period. (2)
The District Registrar, after giving an
opportunity of being heard to the party affected and after recording the
reasons in writing, direct the Registrar to register the marriage or confirm
the order of the Registrar. Any person aggrieved by the
order of the District Registrar made under Section 8 may, within a period of
thirty days from the date of receipt of the order, appeal against such order to
the Registrar-General and the decision of the Registrar-General on such appeal
shall be final and thereupon the Registrar shall act in conformity with such
decision. (1)
On registration of the marriage, the
Registrar shall issue a certificate of registration of marriage to the parties
in such form as may be prescribed. (2)
Every Registrar shall maintain a register of
marriages, in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed. (3)
On receipt of the memorandum of marriage
under Section 5, the Registrar shall file the same in the register. (1)
Subject to any rules made in this behalf by
the Government including the rules relating to payment of fee, any person may,- (a)
cause a search to be made by the Registrar
for any entry in the register of marriages; and (b)
obtain an extract from such register relating
to marriages. (3)
All extracts given under this section shall
be certified by the Registrar and shall be admissible in evidence for the
purpose of proving the marriage to which the entry relates. The register of marriages
shall, at all reasonable times, be open to inspection and the certified
extracts therefrom shall, on application, be given by the Registrar to the
applicant on payment of such fee as may be prescribed. No employer or a Government
or quasi-Government Authority or Company or Public Sector Undertaking or Local
Authority shall carry out any change in their office record or in any office documents,
such as change in the marital status or change of nomination, of its employee
or in their dealings with any person, customer or client unless the employee
or, as the case may be, the applicant, applying for carrying out or recording
of such change, submits a certified copy of the certificate of registration of
marriage issued under Section 10. (1)
Any person who- (a)
omits or neglects to [6][deliver
in person or send in the manner prescribed] the memorandum as required by
Section 5; or (b)
makes any statement in the memorandum which
is false in any material particular, and which he knows or has reason to
believe to be false; or (c)
contravenes any of the provisions of this
Act, or rules made thereunder, shall, on conviction, be punished with fine
which may extend to one thousand rupees. (2)
The Registrar who wilfully fails to file the
memorandum pursuant to Section 5 shall, on conviction, be punished with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine which may
extend to one thousand rupees or with both. Any person secreting,
destroying or dishonestly or fraudulently altering the register of marriage or
any part thereof shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to ten thousand
rupees or with both. No prosecution for an
offence punishable under this Act shall be instituted except by an officer
authorized by the Registrar-General by general or special order, in this
behalf. (1)
If any person committing an offence under
this Act is a company, every person, who, at the time the offence was
committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the
conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed
to be guilty of the offence, and shall be liable to be proceeded against and
punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained
in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment
provided in this Act, if he proves that the offence was committed without his
knowledge, or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of
the offence. (2)
Notwithstanding anything contained in
sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a
company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent
or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of any
director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director,
manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that
offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation.-For this purpose
of the section,- (a)
‘company’ means a body corporate and includes
a firm or other association of individuals; and (b)
‘director’ in relation to a firm, means a
partner in the firm. No suit, prosecution or
other legal proceedings shall lie against any person for anything which is in
good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or a rule or
order made thereunder. The Registrar-General, every
District Registrar and Registrar and other officers while acting or purporting
to act in pursuance of the provisions of this Act or rules made thereunder
shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of Section 21 of the
Indian Penal Code (Act 45 of 1860). If any difficulty arises in
giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government may, by order
published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, make such provisions, not
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appear to them to be necessary
or expedient for removing the difficulties: Provided that no order shall
be made after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of commencement
of this Act. The Government may, from
time to time, issue such directions not inconsistent with the provisions of
this Act, to the Registrar, District Registrar and to the Registrar-General, as
it may thinks fit for the effective implementation of the provisions of this
Act and they shall comply with such direction. The provisions of this Act
shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other law for the time
being in force. No marriage performed in
this State to which this Act applies shall be deemed to be invalid solely by
reason of the fact that it was not registered under this Act. (1)
The Government may make rules for carrying
out all or any of the purposes of this Act. (2)
(a) All rules made under this Act shall be
published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette and unless they are expressed to
come into force on a particular day, shall come into force on the day on which
they are so published. (b) All notifications issued
under this Act shall be published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette and
unless they are expressed to come into force on a particular day, shall come
into force on the day on which they are so published. (3)
Every rule or order made or notification
issued under this Act shall, as soon as possible, after it is made or issued,
be placed on the Table of the Legislative Assembly, and if, before the expiry
of the session in which it is so placed or in the next session, the Legislative
Assembly makes any modification in any such rule, order or notification or the
Legislative Assembly decides that the rule, order or notification should not be
made or issued, the rule, order or notification shall thereafter have effect
only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be, so, however,
that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the
validity of anything previously done under that rule, order or notification. [1]
Published in Tamil Nadu Gazette, extra, dated 7th-Aug-2009. [2]
Subs. by Tamil Nadu Act 27 of 2017, S. 2 (w.e.f. the date to be notified).
Prior to substitution it read as; “(e) “priest” means any person who performs a marriage or
any person present in the marriage referred to in Section 7-A of the Hindu
Marriage Act, 1955 (Act 25 of 1955);” [3] The
words “or send in the manner as may be prescribed” omitted by Tamil Nadu Act 27
of 2017, S. 3(1) (w.e.f. the date to be notified). [4]
Subs. by Tamil Nadu Act 27 of 2017, S. 3(2) (w.e.f. the date to be notified).
Prior to substitution it read as; “Provided that the memorandum may be delivered or sent to
the Registrar within a further period of sixty days after the expiry of the
said ninety days with the payment of additional fee as may be prescribed.” [5] Subs. for “delivered
or sent” by Tamil Nadu Act 27 of 2017, S. 4 (w.e.f. the date to be notified). [6] Subs. for “delivered
or sent” by Tamil Nadu Act 27 of 2017, S. 5 (w.e.f. the date to be notified).Tamil
Nadu Registration of Marriages Act, 2009[1]
[Tamil Nadu Act 21 of 2009]