Uttarakhand to implement UCC on Jan 26 for registration of live-in couples

Uttarakhand is set to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for Marriage-like registration of all live-in relationships from Jan 26 onwards and in this regard the authorities initiated a week-long training program for its officials on Jan 13 to help familiarize them with the UCC portal.

The mandatory requirements under the UCC include Marriage-like registration of all live-in relationships, compulsory video recordings of witnesses in cases of testamentary succession, and photos and Aadhaar details in all registrations.

The state government began training its officials to help familiarize them with the UCC portal.

The training, which was carried out in the presence of three sub-divisional magistrates and was attended by 14 officials, is scheduled to end on Jan 20. The UCC portal has options for three stakeholders to log in — the citizens, service center staff, and officials. Aadhaar details are required for signing up.

The list of services the portal offers includes registration of marriage, divorce, and live-in registrations, termination of live-in relationships, intestate succession and declaration of legal heirs, testamentary successions, appeal in cases where the application is rejected, access to information, and complaint registration.

A third person objecting to a marriage or a live-in relationship can do so through a complaint. To help fight disinformation, a sub-registrar is tasked with the verification of complaints.

“The citizen raising a complaint should get registered in the portal, so it will help weed out false information,” the trainer, Mukesh said.

For live-in couples, both existing and new, applicants must enter partners’ names, proof of age, nationality, religion, previous relationship status, and phone numbers into the portal. Significantly, this is the same checklist as that of marriage registration.

There are two types of registration for live-in relationships — one for partners living in Uttarakhand and another for the state’s natives outside the territory but within India. The portal also requires partners to upload their photos and a declaration. Children born in such relationships must be registered within seven days of their birth certificates being issued.

For testamentary succession, the declarant must give details and Aadhaar information — both his and that of heirs and witnesses. Additionally, rules require two witnesses to upload a recording of them reading out the succession declaration.

The government has also set up three state-level assistance centers. While the Information Technology Development Agency will provide technical support, the Common Service Centre will help with training and the Prosecution Department will offer legal aid.

“Trainees’ feedback will be conveyed to the government so the draft rules can be modified,” Mukesh said.