Judgments of Indian Courts are not foreign decrees under the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure.

The Petitioner and Respondent No. 1 married on 23.12.2006, with the marriage registered in Goa.

On 04.01.2022, the Family Court, Bangalore, passed a decree dissolving the marriage based on a settlement.

When the Petitioner presented this decree to the Sub-Registrar in Margao, Goa, for cancellation of his marriage certificate, the Registrar refused.

The Registrar contended that since the decree was passed outside Goa, it constituted a "foreign decree" under Article 1102 of the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure, 1939, requiring ratification and confirmation by the High Court of Bombay at Goa.

The Petitioner originally sought confirmation under the Portuguese Code but later amended the plea to a Writ of Mandamus under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

Section 5 of the Goa, Daman and Diu (Administration) Act, 1962, which continued existing laws until repealed.

Sections 3 and 4 of The Goa, Daman and Diu (Extension of the Code of Civil Procedure and the Arbitration) Act, 1965, which extended the Central CPC, 1908 to Goa and repealed corresponding local laws.

The Portuguese Civil Code is "Indian Law" and not foreign law as held in Jose Paulo Coutinho v. Maria Luiza Valentina Pereira (2019) 20 SCC 85.

Sections 2(5) and 2(6) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 define a "foreign court" as one situated outside India and a "foreign judgment" as a judgment of such a court.

The court reasoned that since Goa is an integral part of India, the word "foreign" in the colonial-era Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure must be interpreted in its natural meaning: "from another country".

Following the rationale in Jose Paulo Coutinho, the court held that even though the 1939 Code is of Portuguese origin, it operates only as an Indian law by virtue of Parliamentary adoption.

Any reference to "foreign courts" in Articles 1100–1102 of the 1939 Code must exclude courts within the territory of India.

The definitions provided in the Central CPC, 1908, now take precedence; a court in Bangalore is an Indian court, not a foreign one.

The Registrar’s practice of treating intra-India decrees as "foreign" was deemed arbitrary and a misinterpretation of the survival of local laws post-liberation.

The Court issued a Writ of Mandamus directing Respondent No. 2 to cancel the Petitioner’s marriage certificate within one week.

The Court issued general directions to all Registrars in Goa: (i) cease treating Indian court decrees as foreign, (ii) stop requiring High Court confirmation for such decrees, and (iii) dispose of all similar pending applications within two weeks. Rule was made absolute.