A marriage registration, 15 years after divorce in Kerala

To enable a woman claim her father’s ex-service family pension

In a rare case, the Local Self-Government department in Kerala has facilitated a marriage registration 15 years after the separation of the couple to enable a woman to claim her father’s ex-service family pension. As per the norms, for a woman to claim her father’s ex-service family pension, she has to produce the marriage registration certificate along with the divorce certificate.

However, the couple who got registered at the SNDP Community Hall at Vandanam in Alappuzha district on February 2, 2003 had not officially registered their marriage. They were later legally separated as per the decree of divorce passed by the Ettumanur Family Court on September 14, 2007. When she submitted the divorce certificate to claim her father’s Army pension, she was asked to submit the wedding registration certificate too.

As per the Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules, 2008, both the husband and the wife have to sign on the registration application. However, her former husband was not ready to appear in person or sign on the application as the divorce had already happened. Pointing these facts out, the panchayat registrar had rejected an earlier request from the woman to register the marriage. Following this, her brother submitted another application to the LSG department (Rural) Director, who is also the Chief Registrar General.

In case one of the partners is dead, the registration can be done using the signature of the surviving person. However, the rules do not specify the process in cases where the divorce has happened and both the former partners are alive. The State government put out a special order in this case considering the fact that the family court could have approved the divorce only if the marriage had legally happened. The government also took into consideration the fact that registration was not compulsory when the marriage happened.

The woman submitted the application at the Ambalapuzha North panchayat office on Tuesday morning and got the marriage registration certificate online by evening. Minister for Local Self-Government M.B. Rajesh said the government took “a humanitarian stand” on the issue as her father’s family pension would be of great help for the divorced woman.

Last year, a couple, who had not registered their marriage officially as it was not mandatory when they got married, got it officially registered 53 years after their wedding, and years after their passing away, thanks to a request to the LSG department from their mentally challenged son.