Anand Marriage Act to be implemented

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 27

The long-awaited Anand Marriage Act for the Sikh community is going to be implemented in the city soon. The community would then get its weddings registered under the Act.

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa said he had taken up the matter with LG Anil Baijal and apprised him of the status of the Act passed by the President and lack of its implementation in the city.

Sirsa said the LG understood the gravity of the situation and ordered its implementation immediately.

He said the file regarding implementation of the Act was sent by the LG office to the Divisional Commissioner. Later, it had been sent to the Secretary (Law) who is likely to clear the file in the next two days and then send it back to the LG. After the approval of the LG, the Act would come into force in the city, he said.

With this implementation, more than a century-old demand of the Sikhs will be fulfilled.

He said it was in 1909 when the demand for the Act had been made for the first time.

He said a long battle had to be fought for enacting the Act and its implementation. In 2012, the then President, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, had cleared the Anand Marriage (amendment) Act and all the states were asked to implement it.

Sirsa said now he was taking up the issue of its implementation with the Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of different states and also written letters to them. He said yesterday he had met Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal who had assured him that this Act would be implemented in Assam soon. He said this Act has already been implemented in Haryana and Punjab.