Uttarakhand: Years old demand of Sikh community fulfilled, government implemented Anand Karaj Act
The age-old demand of the Sikh community in Uttarakhand has been fulfilled. The Anand Karaj Act has been approved. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has issued orders to make this act effective.
CM Dhami told that this demand of the Sikh society was stuck in the government for a long time. In this regard, Governor Lt. Gen. (Senior) Gurmeet Singh and Chief Secretary Dr. SS Sandhu along with representatives of other Sikh community urged him on which this decision has been taken. Dhami said that now the government has given recognition to the marriages done considering Shri Guru Granth Sahib as Hajar Nazir and this will facilitate marriage registration. After marriage, the interests of Sikh women will also be protected.
National Advisor, National Commission for Minorities Sardar Gurdeep Singh Sahota Government of Uttarakhand decision to implement Anand Karaj Act by Welcoming the Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and thanked the BJP state organization.
In the year 1909, the Anand Marriage Act was passed for registration of Sikh marriages, which was passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the year 2012 as amended Anand Karaj Act. But since then many states have neither made its rules nor implemented it. Sikh organizations have been raising this demand.
In December 2022, the chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, Mr. Iqbal Singh Lalpura had written a letter to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary of the state and urged them to lay down the rules of the Anand Karaj Act and implement it in the state. In the year 2022, the Uttarakhand High Court had also directed the state government to implement the Anand Karaj Act.
According to the information, the state government, after getting information about the rules of Delhi, Kerala, Chandigarh etc., prepared the rules for Uttarakhand as well and implemented it. Uttarakhand is the tenth state in the country, which has implemented this act. This will make it easier for the youth of the state to register their marriage and even after marriage, the interests of women in particular will be protected by this act.
BJP ruled Assam and Uttarakhand have passed this act together in their respective state cabinet on the same day on 3rd August 2023. Sahota said that when suggestions were sought regarding the Uniform Civil Code in the state, the Sikh Coordination Committee held a meeting with the members of the expert committee of the state government and requested that the Anand Karaj Act be kept out of the Uniform Civil Code. He said that with the implementation of the Ananj Karaj Act in the state, the marriages held in the Gurudwaras of the Sikh community would now be registered under this Act.
