No 2nd marriage for Assam Govt staff from now even if religion allows

No Assam government employee will be allowed to opt for second marriage, even if the religion allows, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, adding that the person will have to take permission from the government.

“We find cases where Muslim men marry two women and later both wives fight for the pension of the same person. This law was already there, now we have decided to implement it,” Sarma said.

The law to ban polygamy is a reminder of Assam’s four lakh-strong workforce of a service rule instituted 58 years ago that bars someone from marrying a second time without the government’s consent as long as the first spouse is alive.

Without mentioning Muslims, the circular states that the rule is applicable even to men permitted by personal law to have a bigamous marriage, a report by a leading national daily stated.

Likewise, no female government servant shall marry any person who has a husband living without first obtaining the permission of the government, said the ‘Office Memorandum’.

The notification was issued by personnel additional chief secretary Niraj Verma on October 20, but it came to light on Thursday. It said the guidelines have been issued as per the provisions of Rule 26 of The Assam Civil Services (Conduct) Rules 1965.

“In the context of the above provisions, the disciplinary authority may initiate immediate departmental proceeding…for imposition of major penalty, including compulsory retirement,” the order stated. It termed such a practice as a gross misconduct on the part of a government servant having “large bearings” on society.

The ‘Office Memorandum’ (OM) further asked authorities to also take necessary legal steps whenever such cases are detected.