Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886
No: 6 Dated: Mar, 08 1886
THE BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES REGISTRATION ACT, 1886
ACT NO. 6 OF 1886
An Act to provide for the voluntary Registration of certain Births and Deaths, for the establishment of General Registry Offices for keeping Registers of certain Births, Deaths and Marriages, and for certain other purposes.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the voluntary registration of births and deaths among certain classes of persons, for the more effectual registration of those births and deaths and of the marriages registered under Act of 1872, or the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 (15 of 1872) and of certain marriages registered under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865 (15 of 1865), and for the establishment of general registry offices for keeping registers of those births, deaths and marriages;
AND WHEREAS it is also expedient to provide for the authentication and custody of certain existing registers made otherwise than in the performance of a duty specially enjoined by the law of the country in which the registers were kept, and to declare that copies of the entries in those registers shall be admissible in evidence;
It is hereby enacted as follows:—
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886; and
(2) It shall come into force on such day as the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, directs
[2. Extent.—This Act extends to the whole of India except [the territories which, immediately before the 1st November, 1956, were comprised in Part B States].]
3. Definitions.—In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,—“sign” includes mark, when the person making the mark is unable to write his name;
“prescribed” means prescribed by a rule made under this Act; and
“Registrar of Births and Deaths” means a Registrar of Births and Deaths appointed under this Act.
4. Saving of local laws.—Nothing in this Act, or in any rule made under this Act, shall affect any law heretofore or hereafter passed providing for the registration of births and deaths within particular local areas.
5. Powers exercisable from time to time.—All powers conferred by this Act may be exercised from time to time as occasion requires.
CHAPTER II
GENERAL REGISTRY OFFICES OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES
6. Establishment of general registry offices and appointment of Registrars General.—(1) Each State Government—
(a) shall establish a general registry office for keeping such certified copies of registers of births and deaths registered under this Act, or marriages registered under Act 3 of 18721 (to provide a form of marriage in certain cases) or the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 ( 15 of 1872), or, beyond the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 18652 (15 of 1865), as may be sent to it under this Act, or under any of the three last-mentioned Acts, as amended by this Act; and
(b) may appoint to the charge of that office an officer, to be called the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, for the territories under its administration: