‘Talaq certificate by Chief Kazi not legal’

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh, dealing with a batch of petitions seeking to forebear Kazis from issuing certificates and other documents certifying or approving talaq, said, “It is clarified for purposes of courts of legal proceedings that the certificate issued by the Chief Kazi is only an opinion and has no legal sanctity, more specifically in view of Section 4 of the Kazis Act, 1880.” 

The bench also directed the Registrar to circulate the order to the judicial forums for clarity and held that it is open to the petitioners to give adequate publicity to the same. One of the petitioner Bader Sayeed, an advocate and former MLA, had contended that several Muslim men even without following necessary conditions such as attempts at reconciliation and even without their wives’ knowledge, were pronouncing talaq. 

They also obtained certificates to that effect from the Kazis who failed to have any authority or power in this regard, leaving the women with no effective remedy.

The bench while making it clear that the office of the Kazi does not confer on the person any judicial or administrative power, however, granted the All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board time to reformulate the certificate to be issued by the Kazi stating that it is purely an opinion so that there is no ambiguity before any legal forum. 

The direction to reformulate the certificates had come about based on the submission that the impugned certificate issued by the Kazi would merely state that on a representation of the spouse, the talaq pronounced in respect of the wife is valid as per Islamic Shariat.