Thiruvananthapuram: The Administrative Reforms Commission has suggested an amendment to the Special Marriage Act in order to give powers to sub-registrars to conduct weddings through video conference. However, the sub-registrar should be convinced that an urgent situation exists for the marriage to take place with the bride or groom stationed abroad, said the Commission.
According to the Commission, marriages by video conference can be performed by the sub-registrars after obtaining prior permission from the District Registrar.
Another recommendation of the commission calls for immediate measures to include photos of newlyweds in the certificates issued to couples conducting their wedding under the Special Marriage Act.
Other suggestions
The Commission also wants a facility to enable access for the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and the police to the central server of the Registration Department. This would help these agencies to directly collect data during investigations, said the Commission. It also recommended modifying the Registration Department’s software to give alerts to the Income Tax Department when registration of title deeds for transactions above Rs 30 lakh takes place.
The Commission also said that the number of tokens issued at sub-registrar offices for registering title deeds should be limited to 25 per day. Moreover, district-level committees have to be set up to revise the fair value of land every five years. Yet another suggestion is to include stamp papers priced below Rs one lakh in the electronic stamping system.
A unified registration law covering the entire state by merging the society registration rules of 1860 and 1955 is also recommended.
