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The approval of the draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) by the Uttarakhand Cabinet has paved the way for the government to introduce the UCC Bill during the ongoing four-day special session of the Assembly.
Once implemented, Uttarakhand will become the first post-independence state to adopt UCC, a system already in place in Goa since Portuguese rule.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will lead the presentation of the Uniform Civil Code Bill in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday during the ongoing special session that began on Monday. The final draft of the UCC, which advocates uniform civil laws for all communities in the state, was approved by the Uttarakhand cabinet on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal clarified on Monday that the Uniform Civil Code is currently being consulted and reviewed by the Law Commission of India.
On Sunday, the cabinet approved the UCC proposal during a meeting at the chief minister’s residence. After an extensive consultative process, the committee set up to prepare the UCC proposal submitted its report to the CM.
The 800-page report of the five-member expert panel, headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, was submitted to Chief Minister Dhami. The report’s recommendations include exempting tribal communities, prioritizing women’s equality, banning practices such as polygamy, and setting a uniform marriage age across religions.
The UCC is designed to create a legal framework for uniform marriage, divorce, land, property, and inheritance laws applicable to all citizens regardless of their religion.
The successful passage of the UCC bill would fulfill a major promise made by the BJP to the people of the state ahead of the 2022 assembly polls. In March 2022, the Dhami government took the initiative to form a committee to draft the UCC.
