The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that it is willing to constitute a panel to examine whether it can grant certain rights to same-sex couples without legally recognising their relationship as a ‘marriage’. The submission by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta came during a hearing on the issue of same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The Centre has so far maintained that the issue of same-sex marriage was best left to the executive and courts should refrain from granting it legal recognition. During the last hearing, the top court had asked the government if certain rights can be granted to same-sex couples in order to secure their social security and welfare.
“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,” the Solicitor General said.
The bench had specifically asked if executive guidelines could be issued so that same-sex couples could open joint bank accounts, nominate partner in life insurance policies, PF etc.
“From the drift of the submissions made by SG last time, it appears that the SG also accepts that people do have a right to cohabit and that right is an accepted social reality. Based on that, there may be certain incidents of that cohabitation – bank accounts, insurance policies – these are practical issues which can be resolved,” Chief Justice of India DY CHandrachud observed during the hearing.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that there were substantial constitutional issues involved in the matter and mere administrative tweaking by the government may not resolve the issues totally.
While the court welcomed the Centre’s step, it also clarified that the court will decide on the constitutional issue of the right to marriage for same-sex couples regardless of the concessions that the government makes.
“Your fundamental point is that there is a right to marry, that it can be sourced in Special Marriage Act. Therefore, of course we’ll have to decide it but to the extent which the government takes the first step forward, there will be a substantive benefit,” the CJI said.