Report No. 248
33. Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, Act 6 of 1886
Category: Symbols, Records and Statistics
Recommendation: Repeal
The Act provides for the voluntary registration of the births and deaths of certain classes of persons, mainly Christians and Parsis, along with those governed by the Indian Succession Act. The 211th Law Commission Report calls the title of this Act 'misleading' because the Act does not consist any provisions for registration of marriages, either voluntary or compulsory.
Registration of only certain classes of people belonging to a specific religion is likely to fall foul of Article 14 of the Constitution. Further, registration of births and deaths is already provided for under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, while marriage are registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act etc. The Act has also been recommended for repeal by the PC Jain Commission Report in its Appendix A-5 as well.