The Maharashtra government, which had earlier formed a 13-member Inter Caste and Interfaith Marriage Coordination Committee, led by women and child welfare minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, amended the resolution and stated that the committee ill work only to track and help cases of interfaith marriages.
The decision was taken after the Opposition criticised the government, claiming it was a state government scheme was a move to grant funds to couples, who would go for inter-caste marriage.
The Maharashtra government formed the coordination committee headed by a minister to track and maintain record of interfaith marriages, couples who have entered into such wedlocks in the state and also their families.
The committee, which has been renamed as “Interfaith Marriage-family Coordination Committee (state level)”, will be headed by Maharashtra’s Women and Child Development Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, said a Government Resolution (GR).
The GR, or government order, was issued by the Women and Child Development Department. There are 13 members in the committee, including Lodha, while the deputy commissioner in the women and child development department will be the member-secretary of the panel, it said.
A helpline number will also be made available for couples in interfaith marriages, said the GR.
The panel’s scope includes taking stock of interfaith marriages that take place after elopement of couples or are performed at religious places or are registered or non-registered, said the order.
If required, counselling service will be made available to women who have entered into interfaith marriages, the government order said.
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