Centre Urges Supreme Court To Make States Part Of Same-Sex Marriage Hearings
NDTV
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, requested a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that states be made parties to the proceedings.
The Centre today urged the Supreme Court that all states and Union Territories be made parties to the proceedings on the pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages, saying any decision on the issue without obtaining their view would render the present "adversarial exercise incomplete and truncated".
In a fresh affidavit filed in the top court, the Centre said it had issued a letter on April 18 to all the states inviting comments and views on the "seminal issue" raised in these petitions.
It said the framers of the Constitution have specifically provided for a separate entry in the Concurrent List, which is a part of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution conferring a constitutional function of legislating with respect to the institution of "marriage", the requisite conditions for a valid marriage, regulations of such institutions like making provisions for divorce, alimony etc.
Referring to entry 5 of the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule, the affidavit said, "It is submitted that every component of entry 5 above is intrinsically interrelated and any change in any one will necessarily have an inevitable cascading effect on other."
