New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday transferred to the Supreme Court a petition seeking uniform marriage age for both men and women.

Petitioner advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay informed a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad that the Supreme Court's order dated January 13, transferred to itself the pending present petition seeking equality in the legal age of marriage for men and women.

The bench said, "In light of the aforesaid order, the matter is immediately transferred to the Supreme Court. The registry is directed to transmit the record immediately to the Supreme Court."

Earlier, the Centre had told court that a task force was constituted to study the issue of the minimum age of girls entering motherhood and it was opposed by the petitioner saying the plea was filed raising a legal question and forming a task force would not serve the purpose.

The high court had granted time to the Centre to file its response. The petitioner claimed that the difference in the legal age of marriage between men and women- 21 and 18-is based on patriarchal stereotypes, lacks scientific support, perpetrates discrimination against women, and is in direct opposition to global trends.

The pleas stated that it violates Articles 14, 15, and 21 by escalating social inequality. It is socially accepted for women in marital relationships to play a submissive position to their husbands. Consequently, there is a power disparity between the husband and wife in the majority of marriages. The argument makes the point that the age gap greatly exacerbates this power disparity because age itself creates a hierarchy of power.