| Statement of Objects and Reasons. - Complaints had been received by Government that some of the Kazis, who officiated as priests at Muslim marriages, did not co-operate with or help the parties, especially the opposite party when he was engaged only to one of the two parties, in giving them inspection and true copies of the documents in his possession, like the Nikah Nama, or in getting the marriage registered under the Bombay Registration of Marriages Act, 1953. Copies of such documents are often required by the members of the public for proving the marriage for various purposes. To remove the difficulty experienced by the people, it was proposed to amend the Kazis Act, 1880, to cast a statutory duty on every person who performs the functions of Kazi at any marriage to maintain proper records and to give inspection and true copies of the relevant documents on payment of reasonable fees. If he was found guilty of misconduct in the discharge of this duty cast on him, it was proposed to disqualify him from functioning as a Kazi at any marriage for a specified period not exceeding three years.
The Kazis Act, 1880 is not in force throughout the State of Maharashtra, for having uniform law on the subject, opportunity was also taken to extend this Act to the remaining parts of the State in which it was not in force at present.
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