the goan I network
MAPUSA
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday told the Legislative Assembly that government would amend the Uniform Civil Code to relax the number of days required for civil registration of marriage of Goans and to also consider allowing non-Goans who wish to get married in the State.
“We are planning to amend the Uniform Civil Code to consider a proposal to reduce the period for registration of civil marriage to 15 days. We are also considering a provision to allow people who are not Goans but desire to register their marriages in the State,” Sawant said.
The chief minister made this announcement at the Zero Hour while responding to concerns raised by St Cruz MLA Antonio Fernandes about difficulty Goans living abroad faced to get civilly married in the State.
The St Cruz MLA said Goans with Oversees Citizens of India (OCI) status, who want to get married in Goa, could not wait for one month as stipulated by the code of civil registration to register their marriage in the State.
“Find some way out so that marriage registration can be done within two weeks rather than one month for Goans who are OCIs or PIOs. Some of them live in London and face a lot of hardship to register their marriage as they get leave for only 21 days,” Fernandes said.
Law Minister Nilesh Cabral informed that government was seized of the matter and a proposal for amendment of the Uniform Civil Code was in pipeline.
“In the meantime, people can approach the court to get the marriage process expedited. The court then gives direction to sub-registrar to register the marriage,” Cabral said.
He said Goa is the only State in the country to have the Uniform Civil Code and as per the code of the civil marriage registration those many days (30) have to be completed to get the marriage registered in the State.
