Same Sex Marriage Issue Cannot Be Decided Without Hearing All States And UTs: Centre To Supreme Court

Central government has filed a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court urging it to make all the State governments and Union Territories party to the petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage.

Centre says that Concurrent list in the Seventh Schedule to the Indian Constitution includes "marriage". Thus, consultation with all the States is necessary for adjudication of the petitions.

Entry 5 of the Concurrent List includes Marriage and divorce; infants and minors; adoption; wills, intestacy and succession; joint family and partition; all matters in respect of which parties in judicial proceedings were immediately before the commencement of this Constitution subject to their personal law.

Centre says every component of Entry 5 above is intrinsically interrelated and any change in any one will necessarily have an inevitable cascading effect on other.

"Therefore, it is clear that the rights of the States, especially the right to the legislate on the subject, will be affected by any decision on the subject...various States have already legislated on the subject through delegated legislations, therefore making them a necessary and proper party to be heard in the present case," the Affidavit says.

Centre said that it has already started the exercise of consultation with all the States, even in the absence of notice to them. However, since the issue has far reaching implications, it is urged that States be made party to the present proceedings and their respective stance be taken on record.

Centre claims that any decision on the present issues without making States a party, without specifically obtaining their opinion on the present issue, would render the adjudication "incomplete and truncated."

In the alternative, the Centre prays to allow it to finish the consultative process with the States, obtains their views/apprehensions, compile the same and place it on record.

A constitution bench of Supreme Court comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Ravindra Bhat, Justice Hima Kohli, and Justice PS Narasimha has started hearing in the batch of petitions.

On the first day of the hearings held yesterday, the primary arguments raised before the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court pertained to marriage being a way to help assimilate queer individuals in the society better and end stigma against them.

Read Here: Same Sex Marriage | Will Not Deal With Marriage Equality In Personal Laws Now: Supreme Court

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