"Passage of the bill empowers the state government to provide licences to two persons belonging to Shia and Suni sects respectively," law minister Raghunath Mohanty said.
The bill was introduced in the assembly last year by the then law minister Bikram Keshari Arukh.
Earlier the state government was entitled to grant license to any Muhammadan authorising him to register Muhammadan marriage and divorce within a specified limit in Odisha.
License to one person from an area was creating difficulties in solemnising registration of marriages and divorce," the minister said.
The bill was passed by voice vote without any debate as the opposition Congress was staging demonstration in the well and Speaker's podium.
