Even after making registration of marriages compulsory in the state by enacting a law some 10 years ago, no single registration has been made under the Act till now.
Speaking at the 12th conference of Public Relations Society of India- Hyderabad Chapter here on Saturday, Lokayukta B Subhashan Reddy said that when he was chairman of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), he wanted the state government to appoint marriage officers within a month to implement the AP Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act, 2002 but no single marriage had been registered till now.
Sarpanches at the village level, MPDOs at mandal level and collectors at district level were to be the marriage officers. “But, most of the district collectors are unaware that they are district-level marriage officers,” he pointed out.
He stressed the need for good public relations it would disseminate the information. Due to lack of awareness, the marriage officers did not know their duties. The public relations would help in this direction, he added. He recalled that he wanted the government to implement the Compulsory Marriage Registration Act to discourage child marriages which were still continuing in the state.
Public Relations Voice editor CV Narasimha Reddi wanted a separate academy for those engaged in public relations on the lines of Police Academy, Press Academy and Judicial Academy. Responding to this, Subhashan Reddy said that if the PRSI submitted a petition to the Lokayukta for a public relations academy, he would immediately direct the government to establish it.
PSRI vice-president (South) Y Babji, Hyderabad Chapter chairman NL Narasimha Rao and secretary DV Subba Rao were present