Overview

• Seventeen states and seven Union Territories must notify rules under Section 6 of the Anand Marriage Act within four months, publish them in the gazette, and lay them before their legislatures.
• Effective immediately, all registrars must accept applications for Anand Karaj marriages under existing frameworks and, on request, note the ceremony on certificates; no application may be refused for lack of Section 6 rules, and any denial must be reasoned in writing.
• States and UTs must appoint Secretary-level nodal officers within two months, while jurisdictions with existing rules must issue clarificatory circulars within three months and must not demand duplicative registrations.
• The Union government will coordinate implementation, circulate model rules within two months, and file a consolidated compliance report within six months on the Law Ministry’s website.
• Goa and Sikkim receive special directions for immediate processing under current systems, with the Centre to notify extension of the 1909 Act to Goa and to consider extension to Sikkim within four months.