RAHUL VERMA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, in the instant petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, has prayed for issuance of directions against the respondent No.2-Jaipur Municipal Corporation to register the marriage of the petitioner under the Christian Marriage Act, 1872 and to issue a marriage certificate to that effect. He has also prayed to declare that the petitioner is entitled to register his marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 in case he is not desirous to register his marriage under Christian Marriage Act, 1872, and that the respondent No.3 i.e. the District Collector-cum-District Magistrate, Jaipur, in absence of Christian Marriage Registrar, is empowered to register the Christian marriages.

(2.) The short facts giving rise to the present petition are that the petitioner, who had married one Ms. Vanessa Lee Peterson, at the Souvenir Hotel, New Atish Market,, Gopalpura Bye Pass, Mansarovar, Jaipur on 08.12.2014, as per the Christian Customs and Rituals, had approached the respondent No.2-Corporation for registration of his marriage, however the respondent No.2 refused to register the same in view of the provisions contained in Rajasthan Compulsory Marriage Registration Act, 2009. According to the petitioner, he approached the Additional District Magistrate, Jaipur IV and also the District Collector-the respondent No.3, for registering his marriage under Section 15 of the Special Marriage Act, however they also refused to register his marriage, and therefore the present petition has been filed.

(3.) The petition has been resisted by the respondent/s by filing the reply contending interalia that as per Section 20 of the Rajasthan Compulsory Marriage Registration Act, 2009, the provisions of the said Act do not apply to the marriages solemnized under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, and therefore no direction against the respondent No.2 as sought for in the petition could be given. It is further contended that for registration of marriage under the Special Marriage Act 1954, the procedure is already prescribed under the Act, and hence no such declaration or direction sought in the petition could be granted.