New Delhi, September 2
Conscious of the disquiet its decision to drop the proposal of amending the Anand Marriage Act, 1909 has caused among the Sikhs across India and abroad, the government today said it was aware of the community’s sentiments and would see how best to resolve the problem.

Speaking exclusively to The Tribune on the issue, Law Minister Salman Khursheed said he was aware that the issue was a highly emotional one for the Sikhs who had long agitated for the same.

“We are open to examining good proposals that help us resolve the issue. Let someone come up with a modern, sensible idea regarding what can be done and we will examine the same. But we do not want to end one trouble and invite more,” the minister said, proposing for the entire country a Central Register of Marriages with codes for different communities.

He said such a register - on the pattern of the one we have for births and deaths - can register marriages of all communities and bring in the era of uniformity in the country.

“A national mechanism for registration of marriages can be considered. Everyone can register their marriages in such a system. You can have codes for different communities. But such a suggestion has to come from someone,” Salman said when asked why the Centre had decided to abandon the proposal to amend the Anand Marriage Act with an enabling clause that would allow all Sikhs to register their marriages within the said legislation and thereby prevent them from getting the marriage registered under another Act - the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice had recommended such an amendment.

The minister, however, explained that dropping of the said amendment was a view taken by the government which was in any case open to rational solutions to the problem being raised by the Sikhs.