Mait Shaphrang chairman Michael N. Syiem has urged the State government to ensure that the marriage registration law is implemented and marriage certificates made mandatory for all official purposes.
In a letter to Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong here yesterday, Syiem said that the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act 2012 was passed by the State Assembly with the primary objective of addressing the increasing number of broken marriages in the State where many women with children were abandoned by their husbands without giving any child support.
“When this law was in the drafting stage, the Law Department had invited all concerned to give their views and suggestions which resulted in the inclusion of this very important clause by making it mandatory for every married man and married woman to compulsory furnish a marriage certificate for all official purposes irrespective of whether they are government employees or not,” Syiem said in the letter.
He also questioned the redefining the term ‘official purposes’ from its original definition ‘for all official purposes’ through the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage (Amendment) Act 2019.
According to Syiem, such redefinition in the amendment act to address only matters related to pension, succession and maintenance of spouse, the very purpose for which the law was passed in 2012 to address the problem of broken marriages will be defeated “leaving those abandoned women with children, living under the poverty line and who are not in the government sector, open for exploitation”.
The Mait Shaphrang chairman has requested the deputy chief minister to intervene and ensure that the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage as passed in 2012 where marriage certificate will be mandatory for all official purposes is effectively implemented and the State can reap the benefits that “strong families make a strong nation”.
