Amid the raging debate over the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the country, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has organised a virtual meeting of all its members on Wednesday to discuss the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) draft, reported news agency ANI.
The Secretary of the Law Commission of India had earlier asked AIMPLB to formulate a response soliciting views and ideas from the public at large regarding UCC.
Responding to this, the Secretary General of AIMPLB said that the issue was examined earlier and the commission’s predecessor reached a conclusion that UCC is ‘neither necessary nor desirable’.
They also asked for six months time to prepare an appropriate response with feedback from religious organizations, individuals and public-spirited persons.
Last month, the Law Commission launched a fresh consultation process on UCC, seeking views from various stakeholders amid reports that the government plans to bring a draft bill soon.
Earlier, the AIMPLB had passed a resolution at its executive meeting saying that the implementation of a UCC was not possible as it would be an ‘unnecessary’ Act.
It added that the Places of Worship Act 1991, should be “maintained and well-implemented” and religious conversion was a matter of “Freedom of religion”.
After PM Narendra Modi’s push for UCC in Bhopal, where he stated that two laws in the same country would not work, while asserting that the Constitution mentions equal rights for all citizens and even Supreme Court rulings had called for uniform laws, it was reported that India’s top Muslim body held an emergency meeting.
Denying that there is a link between the meeting and the PM’s speech, members said that the meeting had been scheduled earlier as the AIMPLB has to draft a response to the Law Commission’s public notice seeking public feedback on the matter.
AIMPLB executive committee member Dr Qasim Rasool told The Indian Express, “We have already once before presented our feedback to the Law Commission in 2016, and the Commission had responded in 2018 and said that at least for 10 years, UCC should not be implemented. What we feel is that the latest public notice is nothing but a political stunt by the present government to create a situation which they will encash ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections. The manner in which the Law Commission has asked for feedback this time has also been ambiguous. In 2016, the Law Commission had asked specific questions, to which we had responded.”