DEHRADUN: The implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand has created an unexpected documentation challenge for Scheduled Tribe communities, whose marriages cannot currently be registered under the new framework despite marriage certificates being required for several official procedures.
The UCC, which came into force in the state on January 27, 2025, makes marriage registration mandatory. However, Scheduled Tribes were kept outside its ambit in recognition of the special protections granted to tribal communities under the Constitution and their customary practices.
The exemption has now produced a practical hurdle. Tribal couples are unable to obtain official marriage certificates, leaving them with difficulties while applying for passports and visas or completing banking and other government-related formalities.
The Uttarakhand Home Department, Law Department and State Scheduled Tribes Commission have begun consultations to find a legally sustainable solution. Several rounds of meetings have already been held at the government level, but officials said several legal complications had emerged during the discussions.
The Scheduled Tribes Commission has taken serious note of the issue and urged the state government to either provide suitable relaxation in the rules or establish an alternative mechanism through which tribal couples can secure legally valid proof of marriage.
The key challenge before the government is to facilitate documentation without making UCC provisions compulsory for communities expressly exempted from the law.
Any new arrangement must also preserve their constitutional safeguards, traditional institutions and customary marriage practices.
Manu Gaur, a member of the UCC Drafting Committee and currently a member of the Chief Minister’s Strategic Advisory Committee, suggested that the government could introduce a voluntary registration mechanism.
“In such cases involving tribal areas, members of the community may be given the option to register their marriages voluntarily. The element of compulsion cannot be applied to them,” Gaur told The New Indian Express.
“The state government may consider providing an option for voluntary self-declaration under the UCC,” he added.
Such a provision could allow couples to obtain documentary proof without diluting the exemption available to Scheduled Tribes.
The Home Department is now expected to convene another meeting with officials of the Law Department and the Scheduled Tribes Commission. The participants will examine fresh proposals and legal options for issuing valid marriage documents to tribal couples while ensuring that their constitutional rights and traditional systems remain unaffected.
Home Secretary Shailesh Bagauli acknowledged that the issue involved legal hurdles but said efforts were continuing to resolve them. “Certain legal complications have arisen in this matter. We are making sustained efforts to remove these difficulties,” Bagauli said.
A workable solution could bring relief to newly married tribal couples caught between constitutional exemption and the growing administrative requirement for formal marriage documentation.
