Section 5: Registers

5. Registers (1) The Registrar of Civil Status shall keep such registers as he thinks fit— (a) at each office, for the registration of— (i) births under section 12; (ii) civil marriages under sections 19A, 24 and 24A; (iii) publication of proposed civil marriages under section 21 (b); (iv) religious marriages having civil effect under section 28 (3) (d); (v) deaths under section 38; (vi) acknowledgment of children under section 60; (b) at the Central Civil Status Office, for the registration of— (i) births, deaths and marriages in the Chagos Archipelago under section 4A; C24 – 5 [Issue 1] Civil Status Act (iA) orders of a Court or a Judge in Chambers under section 6 or any other enactment; (ii) births on board of a Mauritian ship or aircraft under section 15 (3); (iii) religious marriages having civil effect under section 27 (2) or 28 (3) (d); (iv) deaths on board of a Mauritian ship or aircraft under section 44 (3); (v) unidentified bodies or remains under section 45; (vi) past religious marriages under section 74. (1A) The Chagos Archipelago Civil Status records shall be deemed to form part of the register of births, deaths and marriages in the Chagos Archipelago and shall be kept as a permanent record at the Central Civil Status Office. (2) (a) The officer in charge of an office, other than the Central Civil Status Office, shall, at the end of the year, forward to the Central Civil Status Office any register kept under subsection (1) (a). (b) The officer in charge of the Central Civil Status Office shall forward to such place, at such time and in such form as the Registrar of Civil Status may direct, any register or information on a computer system to be kept as a permanent record. (3) No register kept under this section shall be open for inspection except upon an order of a Judge in Chambers upon good cause shown for the inspection. (4) Notwithstanding subsection (3) but subject to subsection (5), where the Registrar of Civil Status has assigned responsibility to an officer to make searches on behalf of the public in general indices kept under section 3 (3) (g) at any office, no member of the public shall have access to any general index kept at the office but may apply to, and obtain from, the responsible officer such information as he requires from the general indices. (5) Subject to such conditions as the Registrar of Civil Status may impose, a member of the public may inspect a general index kept at an office where no officer has been assigned responsibility to make searches in general indices. [S. 5 amended by Act 9 of 1984; Act 2 of 1987; Act 8 of 1997; s. 5 of Act 22 of 2004.]