Indians Immigrate To Canada In Record Numbers
Chandigarh/New Delhi, February 23 : After a shocking revelations by the West Bengal government on being ignorant about the Anand Marriage Act, the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) General Secretary Mr. Manjinder Singh Sirsa has taken up issue with the West Bengal Chief Minister and urged her to get this act implemented in her state to facilitate large number of Sikhs residing in West Bengal to get their marriages registered under the act.
In a statement issued here today, Mr. Sirsa expressed shock that Indian Parliament has passed Anand Marriage Amendment Act in 2012 which was duly approved by the President of India and published in the Gazette of India on June, 8,2012 (Part-II) vide GMGIPMRND-1481G(S3)-8-6-2012 and it has been implemented in around 14 Indian states including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pardesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya etc. but the West Bengal government is totally ignorant about the act. He said that it was more shocking that when our neighboring country Pakistan is working to implement provisions of the act in the country, an Indian state is saying that it has no information on such an act. . He said that such ignorance on the part of the government indicates failure of the government on performing its constitutional duty.
It is worth mention here that West Bengal Government has communicated to Mr. Sirsa vide letter no. 604-J/JD/XIII/(15P)R-97/17 that that it has no information whether the Government of India has issued any notification in this regard and West Bengal Government has not made any rules u/s 6 of the Anand Marriage Act, 1909 as amended by Act No. 29 of 2012.
Mr. Sirsa said that feelings of whole sikh community have been hurt by the casual approach of Mamta Benerjee and her government towards an all important issue concerning the community which has also became a major issue in media also. He further said that he was wondering how this government works when it was totally ignorant about the laws passed by the Parliament of the country. He said should everyone assume that this government has failed to perform constitutional duty to safeguard interests of sikh and other communities.
Mr. Sirsa told the West Bengal Chief Minister that he has sent a copy of the notification of the act as well as a set of rules framed by the different state governments to implement this act to her as he felt that West Bengal government was sleeping on this important demand of the sikh community. He said a large number of Sikhs reside in West Bengal and her government was duty bound to provide facility to minority community of any law passed by the Parliament of the country in their favour.
The DSGMC General Secretary urged the Chief Minister that getting their marriages registered under the Anand Marriage Act was a dream for all sikh couples and she should ensure that her government works towards fulfillment of such dreams which are under the constitutional framework. He said that the DSGMC was ready to provide any help her government needs for implementing this act in West Bengal.
