Exclusive: Marriage-like registration for live-in, Aadhaar mandatory – the new UCC rules in Uttarakhand

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 January 20. The UCC portal has options for three stakeholders to log in – the citizens, service centre 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 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 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 number 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 centres. 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.