Only registered 'qazis' can solemnise marriage under new nikahnama in Uttarakhand
The Uttarakhand Waqf Board is drafting a new nikahnama (marriage contract format) aligned with the state's Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which came into force in the state in January 2026.
The revised nikahnama will authorise only Waqf Board-registered qazis or maulanas to solemnise Muslim marriages, with the stated aim of fixing accountability and curbing marriages of convenience used solely to enable religious conversion.
The draft removes the column previously provided for recording additional (polygamous) marriages and will make submission of Aadhaar details mandatory for all parties to a marriage.
The changes are presented as bringing marriage registration and solemnisation practice for the state's Muslim community into conformity with the UCC's uniform rules on marriage.
Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand Act, 2024 — Constitutional Basis
Uttarakhand became the first Indian state to enact a codified Uniform Civil Code applicable, with some exceptions, to all residents regardless of religion. The Act is framed as an attempt to give effect to a Directive Principle of State Policy that has never been implemented at the national level.
Key Details
- Article 44 of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy, Part IV) directs the State to "endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India" — DPSPs are non-justiciable (Article 37) but are meant to guide legislation.
- The Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand Act, 2024 was passed by the state legislature and notified in January 2026; it applies to all residents of the state except members of Scheduled Tribes (who are protected via Article 342 and constitutional safeguards for tribal customary law).
- The Act mandates compulsory registration of all marriages and live-in relationships (non-registration of a live-in relationship can attract penal consequences), bans polygamy and child marriage, and prohibits practices such as nikah halala and iddat-linked restrictions across all communities.
- Personal laws on marriage and divorce fall under the Concurrent List (Entry 5, List III, Seventh Schedule), permitting both Parliament and state legislatures to legislate on them — the constitutional basis for a state-level UCC.
The Waqf Board's new nikahnama is an administrative/implementation step flowing directly from the state UCC's ban on polygamy and its emphasis on documented, accountable marriage registration.
Regulation of Marriage Solemnisation — Qazis, Waqf Boards, and the Special Marriage Act
Under Muslim personal law as traditionally practised in India, a qazi is a religious functionary (not necessarily a state-licensed official) who solemnises marriages according to Sharia provisions; there has historically been no uniform requirement for qazis to be government or Waqf Board-registered.
Key Details
- Waqf Boards are statutory bodies under the Waqf Act, 1995, now amended by the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 ("UMEED Act"), which mandates inclusion of women and representatives of non-Muslim communities on Waqf Boards/the Central Waqf Council, and shifts waqf property survey powers to the District Collector — but Waqf Boards' core function remains management of waqf (charitable/religious endowment) properties, not marriage regulation.
- India also has a religion-neutral civil marriage framework, the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which allows any two persons — irrespective of religion — to marry via civil registration before a Marriage Officer, without religious rites.
- By requiring only Waqf Board-registered qazis to conduct nikahs, the state effectively extends state oversight into a previously self-regulated religious function, an implementation choice distinct from mandating registration under a religion-neutral law like the Special Marriage Act.
Restricting solemnisation to registered qazis creates a traceable chain of accountability (the qazi becomes answerable to the Waqf Board) intended to prevent misuse of nikah for purposes such as facilitating unlawful religious conversion.
Legal History of Muslim Marriage Reform: Shayara Bano and the 2019 Triple Talaq Act
The removal of the polygamy column from the nikahnama sits within a broader trajectory of judicial and legislative intervention in Muslim personal law over the last decade.
Key Details
- In Shayara Bano v. Union of India (2017), a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) unconstitutional by a 3:2 majority, calling it "manifestly arbitrary."
- Parliament subsequently enacted the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, making pronouncement of instant triple talaq a cognisable, non-bailable offence punishable with up to three years' imprisonment and a fine, along with subsistence allowance and custody provisions for the wife.
- Polygamy among Muslims (permitted up to four wives under classical Muslim personal law, subject to conditions) has not been banned at the national level, unlike for Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (Section 5) and the Bigamy provisions of the Indian Penal Code/Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita — making Uttarakhand's state-level ban (via its UCC) a notable departure.
Removing the nikahnama's polygamy-recording column operationalises the state UCC's blanket ban on polygamy for the Muslim community specifically, an area where national personal law has so far not intervened.
- Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand Act, 2024: notified/enforced January 2026; India's first state-level codified UCC.
- Constitutional basis: Article 44 (DPSP, non-justiciable per Article 37); marriage/personal law under Concurrent List Entry 5.
- UCC Uttarakhand exemptions: Scheduled Tribes excluded from its application.
- Shayara Bano v. Union of India (2017): triple talaq held unconstitutional, 3:2 majority.
- Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019: triple talaq made punishable with up to 3 years' imprisonment.
- Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 ("UMEED Act"): mandates women and non-Muslim representation on Waqf Boards/Central Waqf Council; passed April 2025.
- New nikahnama requirements: registered qazis/maulanas only, Aadhaar submission mandatory for all parties, no column for additional/polygamous marriages.