CHITRADURGA: Panchayat Development Officers at gram panchayat level will now double up as marriage registration officers. One does not need to visit the sub-registrar's offices from now on to get their marriage registered.
The village marriages that went unregistered will now get registered at your doorsteps in a hassle-free manner. According to a state government order that was circulated on Saturday, PDOs have been given the additional charge of marriage registration and this order comes into effect immediately.
Till now, the marriage registration was done at sub-registrar's office at taluk level. The devolution of power to GP level will give a new dimension to the marriage registrations in state and also help in generating additional revenue through marriage registration to the state exchequer.
The sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Karnataka Marriages (Registration and Miscellaneous provisions) Act 1976 (Karnataka Act 2 of 1984), the Government of Karnataka has appointed the gram panchayat development officer from the rural development and panchayat raj department as the marriage registration authority at gram panchayat level.
Speaking to TNIE over the government order, state president of the Panchayat Development Officers' Association Boraiah H said: "This is a very good move. This order eases the registration process of marriages held at village level that hitherto went un-registered, leading to several consequences."
"The government has already issued the order and the PDOs will be working as marriage registration officers from Monday onwards. However,many PDOs have not been trained over handling the new responsibility. This can be overcome if proper training is provided to all the PDOs," he added.
"More than 95 percent of marriages are going unregistered leading to several legal complications, providing registration facility at village level helps in legalising marriages as per the government's regulations," he said, adding that the government should give detailed directions, formats of applications for registration and other things so that all the issues get sorted out..
Vacancies to be filled
There are more than 1000 vacant posts of PDOs in Karnataka and the government should be step-in to fill it immediately. If these are filled, it helps in easing the work, he said.