Thiruvananthapuram: Maybe for the first time even in India, marriage registration is allowed by the Kerala Government with retrospective effect after the death of both the spouses, that too 53 years after their wedding. This is being facilitated to ensure a family pension for their son, who is of unsound mind.
C Bhaskaran Nair and T Kamalam of Shekharipuram in Palakkad got married in 1969 at the Kodumbu Subramanya Swamy Temple.
Bhaskaran Nair, retired military personnel, was drawing a pension till his death in 2015. His wife died in 2008. After his death, son T Gopakumar did not get a family pension since his father's family details were not found in the Army records.
Now, Gopakumar is desperately looking forward to getting a family pension for his daily sustenance. But he needs to produce the marriage certificate of his parents for applying for the same.
The marriage registration rules framed in 2018 contains the provision for issuing marriage certificate with retrospective effect even after the death of one of the spouses. But the law is silent on whether it is possible to issue a marriage certificate with retrospective effect when both spouses are not alive.
According to Local Administration Minister MV Govindan, the State Government has come forward to bring in a new rule to allow the registration of the marriage while acting on Gopakumar's request, after taking into account the need for ensuring his livelihood and protection. He said it was done on humanitarian grounds, after getting a favourable nod from the legal department.
During the heydays of the COVID-19 attack, the State Government had earlier allowed those who got married abroad to apply for marriage registration certificates without appearing before the registration office in Kerala. Now, the government is planning to revise rules to incorporate this provision in the law permanently.
