Only government-appointed Kazis can register Muslim marriages: Gauhati HC

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has directed that only the government-appointed Kazis can register Muslim marriages and issue the 'Marriage Registration Certificates'. The Court has asked other Kazis to follow the order in its letter and spirit.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the chief adviser of 'All Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registrars and Kazi Association' Abul Kasim Talukdar said that the All Assam Imam Council had filed a petition in the Gauhati High Court challenging its earlier order on performance of Muslim marriages and issuing registration certificates by Kazis.

Way back in 2019, the single-judge High Court Bench of Justice N. Kotiswor Singh ruled that only the government-appointed Kazis will register the Muslim marriages and issue the marriage- registration certificates.

Talukdar also informed reporters that a Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Sudhangshu Dhulia and Justice Manas Ranjan Pathak had recently rejected the petition of the 'All Assam Imam Council' which had challenged the High Court order delivered in 2019.

He also said that the Division Bench of the High Court re-affirmed the directions and judgment of the single-judge Bench and issued very strict ruling that no Kazi except the government-appointed Kazis can register Muslim marriage and can issue 'Marriage Registration Certificates' as per the 'Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act-1935'.

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