NEW DELHI: During the ongoing gearing on same-sex marriages on Wednesday, the Solicitor General of India informed the Supreme Court that the country that the Government of India is agreeable towards constituting a committee to examine if certain legal rights can be granted in case of same-sex couples without giving legal recognition to the relationship as “marriage”.
The Constitutional Bench hearing the matter has earlier instructed the Solicitor General to get instructions from the Central Government on whether rights can be granted to such couples to ensure their social security and welfare. The Bench also questioned if any guidelines can be issued for their financial matters including the opening of accounts, nomination in insurance policies, provident funds etc.
"The government is positive. What we have decided is that this would need coordination between more than one ministry. So therefore a committee headed by no less than the cabinet secretary will be constituted", mentioned the Solicitor General. He also added that the legal representatives of the petitioners can provide their suggestions and problems so that the government can solve them if legally possible. “Suppose the government says that nomination in PF is a family member or anyone else, then you don't need to go into anything else", he added.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) suggested that the Attorney General, Solicitor General and the other lawyers appearing in the matter have a discussion regarding the issue at hand while clarifying that this will not affect the rejoinder arguments of the government. He also mentioned that the shift in the position by the Solicitor General shows the acceptance of the right to cohabit acceptance of the social reality. “There may be certain incidents of that cohabitation- bank accounts, insurance policies - these are practical issues which can be resolved by the government", observed the CJI regarding the matter.
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