Registration certificate without marriage date: Software flaw in 'Pearl' portal should be rectified

KOCHI: The High Court has said that the failure to record the date of marriage in the registration certificates obtained online for ceremonial marriages renders them invalid. Only the date of registration is recorded at present. Justice Shobha Annamma Eapen, who found the software flaw of the 'Pearl' portal to be the cause, directed the Additional Chief Secretary of the Tax Department and the IG of Registration to rectify the error.

The order was granted on a petition filed by an expatriate couple citing issues related to the absence of a marriage date. They approached the High Court because no action was taken, although the marriage officer and the district officer in Kakkanad were approached to record the date. The officials informed the court that there was no way to correct the certificates, as it is the software that prepared them. However, the court's inspection revealed that there is a column to record the date of marriage in the current online format. It was also assessed that the problem could be resolved if the software was updated.

"The previous method was to provide the date of marriage by submitting the evidence of the marriage ceremony. This should be followed in the online system as well. The portal was set up to get the certificates quickly through simple procedures, but people are struggling to get the date recorded. The date of marriage is mandatory in the certificate according to the Fifth Schedule of the Special Marriage Act. The procedures are futile otherwise," the court said.

The court ordered the petitioners to be given the corrected certificate within a month. The petitioners, who got married in July 2022, could apply only in October as they were abroad. The certificate received was dated October.