P.D. AUDIKESAVALU, J.

1. The Tamil Nadu Registration of Marriages Act, 2009, (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' for short) which came into force from 24.11.2009 was enacted pursuant to the directions issued in that regard by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the decision in Seema -vs- Ashwanikumar [AIR 2006 SC 1158].

2. The grievance sought to be espoused by the Petitioner, who is a practising Advocate, in this Public Interest Litigation is that Section 5 of the Act does not make it mandatory for the presence of the parties to the marriage at the time of registration of their marriage and as consequence thereof, the Registrars of marriages under the Act have been registering marriages without verifying the solemnization of such marriage in accordance with the personal laws of the parties. In that backdrop, the Petitioner sought for the following reliefs:-

(i) To direct the First to Third Respondents to instruct the Registrars of marriages in the State of Tamil Nadu to register the marriages that are solemnized in derogation to the personal laws of the parties to the marriages;

(ii) To amend the Rules according to the changing scenario by making the presence of the parties to the marriages compulsory before the Registrars of marriages as sought in the representation dated 23.12.2015; and

(iii) To direct the Fifth Respondent to take appropriate action against the Advocates who have given certificate for solemnization of marriages and registering the marriages in violation of the Act.

3. Heard the Petitioner, Mr. A. Kannan, who has appeared Party-In- Person, Mr. A.K. Baskarapandian, Learned Additional Government Pleader appearing for the First to Fourth Respondents, Mr. Niranjan S. Kumar for the Fifth Respondent and perused the materials placed on record, apart from pleadings of the parties.

4. Before proceeding further, it requires to be pointed out that the contentions of the Petitioner in this Writ Petition have been made without reference to Section 7 of the Act, which reads as follows:-

“7. Power to refuse registration of marriage:-

(1) Where the Registrar, before whom the memorandum is delivered or sent under Section 5 on scrutiny of the documents filed with the memorandum or, on the other facts noticed or brought to his notice, is satisfied or has reason to believe that,-

(a) the marriage between the parties is not performed in accordance with the personal laws of the parties, or any custom or usage or tradition; or

(b) the identity of the parties or the witnesses or the persons testifying the identity of the parties and the performance of the marriage is not established beyond reasonable doubt; or

(c) the documents tendered before him do not prove the marital status of the parties, he may, after hearing the parties and recording the reasons in writing, refuse to register the marriage and may,-

(i) call upon the parties to produce such further information or documents as deemed necessary, for establishing the identity of the parties and the witnesses or correctness of the information or documents presented to him, or

(ii) if deemed necessary, also refer the papers to the local police station within whose jurisdiction the parties reside, for verification.

(2) Where, on further verification as provided in sub-section (1), the Registrar is satisfied that there is no objection to register the marriage, he may register the same. If in the opinion of the Registrar, he may pass an order of refusal in writing, recording the reasons there for.”

5. On a bare perusal of Section 7 of the Act, it is evident that an obligation has been cast on the Registrar of marriages, before registering a marriage, to be satisfied that the marriage between the parties has been performed in accordance with the personal laws of the parties or any custom or usage or tradition and that the identity of the parties has been established. In this regard, it would also be useful to refer to the decision of the Division Bench of this Court in S. Balakrishnan Pan