NEW DELHI: The standing committee on external affairs approved the Registration of Marriage of Non-Resident Indian Bill, 2019 with inclusions of recommendations made by its members. Expressing concern over likely misuse of a provision that allows the passport authority to impound and revoke the passport of the erring NRI spouse on failure of registration within 30 days of marriage, the committee has recommended a review of the proposed clause.The bill seeks compulsory registration of marriage of Non-Resident Indians within 30 days of marriage in India or abroad respectively. The bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in February 2019 by the ministry of external affairs in the backdrop of rising cases of Indian women being abandoned by NRI husbands. It was later referred to the standing committee. The bill proposes to amend the Passport Act, 1967 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The Committee has noted that 5,298 complaints have been received related to NRI marital grievances between January 1, 2016 and October 31, 2019.It is cited in the standing committee report that they find that there is already a provision in law to impound or revoke a passport under various conditions. “Therefore, the Committee finds that the provision of direct impounding or revoking the passport of a NRI who has married a citizen of India or a NRI only if it is brought to the notice of passport authority that she/he has not registered her/his marriage within 30 days of his marriage seems to be disproportionate and stringent action which is likely to be misused,” it is stated in the report.The committee, strongly recommends that the “ministry should seriously think about making a provision of issuing show cause notice, imposition of exemplary fine, issue of a Look Out Notice prior to impounding of Passport of an NRI on failure to register her/his marriage within the stipulated time limit.”The committee, recommends that the proforma for registration of NRI marriage should be amended to make it exhaustive incorporating all the germane details related to passport, visa or permanent resident card and address in foreign country with proof. Further, the committee recommends that suitable amendments may be enacted requiring all NRIs to update their address of residence in foreign country and employment details compulsorily.The committee agreed with the proposal to bring amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to empower the courts for issuing of summons and warrants through designated website of the ministry of external affairs. However, the committee found that the provision of attachment of property after issue of proclamation is not only a stringent step but also perhaps in the domain of the court. The committee therefore, recommended that provisions in the bill ought to be restricted only to the point of facilitating service of summons and court orders. “The punitive measures that may follow ought to be left to be decided by the concerned court on a case to case basis,” it is recommended.