New Delhi, July 29: The Parliament today passed a bill seeking to amend the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2003 was today approved in the Rajya Sabha with members cutting across party lines supporting the bill.

The bill has already been passed in the Lok Sabha.
Presenting the bill in the house, Union Law and Justice Minister Arun Jaitely said the bill sought to amend the provisions of two acts so that the wife can also file a petition in the district court within limits of jursidiction of the local area where she may be residing. The proposed amendments were based on the recommendations of the Law Commission of India and the National Commission for Women.

The bill also seeks to amend section 39 of the Special Marriage Acts, 1954 and section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to provide respectively that the parties to a matrimonial suit could prefer appeal within a period of ninety days instead of thirty days. Bureau Report