By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: The Centre has announced that the Anand Marriage Act, which enables Sikh couples to officially register marriages conducted through the traditional Anand Karaj ceremony, will come into effect in Sikkim from June 1, according to a notification issued by the Union Law Ministry.
Previously, Sikh couples in the state had to register their weddings under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 in order for them to be legally recognized.
The notification, released on May 14, indicated that the Central Government has set June 1, 2026 as the date on which the Anand Marriage Act, 1909, will go into effect in Sikkim.
According to the ministry, the state government has drafted and notified the official Sikkim Anand Marriage Registration Rules, 2026, to enable the law’s implementation.
The development comes after a major Supreme Court decision in the Amanjit Singh Chadha versus Union of India case in September 2025, which directed the government to rectify administrative gaps in the law’s implementation.
The Anand Marriage Act was revised in 2012 to provide methods for registering Sikh marriages performed using Anand Karaj ceremonies. However, several states, like Sikkim, had not developed laws for implementation.
The Supreme Court had previously instructed states to develop the necessary guidelines, noting that the lack of such safeguards pushed Sikh couples to register their weddings under larger Hindu marriage laws.