By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 7: Former MLA from Nongkrem Constituency, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, has stated that proposed amendment to the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act 2012 is only an attempt to weaken the legislation and to make it completely redundant and ineffective while urging the government to do away with the proposal.
In a letter addressed to Inspector General of Registration, PK Agrahari, on Tuesday, Basaiawmoit pointed out that even the first amendment which was brought to define the meaning of ‘Official Purposes’ by way of inserting a new clause ‘(j)’ in Section 2 was “insufficient and should have been more comprehensive”.
According to him, the intention of the government is to bring a second amendment to the present Act whereby the proposed amendment seeks to delete Section 2 (j) which defines the term ‘Official Purposes’ and also to delete the portion mentioned in the Preamble of the principal Act which says “whereas further it is mandatory for married man and married woman to compulsorily furnish a marriage certificate for all official purposes.”
He also mentioned that the purpose of the Act is to prevent child marriages, check bigamy or polygamy, help women to exercise their rights of maintenance. However, this proposed amendment would defeat the very purpose of this piece of legislation.