Uttarakhand is set to become the first state in India to pass the Uniform Civil Code. According to an IE report, a special one-day session of Uttarakhand Assembly is scheduled to be held next month on February 5. This session is likely to pass the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, the IE report said.
Ahead of the special Assembly session, the IE report adds that the ex-Supreme Court judge-led committee is likely to hand over the report on UCC either on February 2 or February 3. Led by former SC judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, the panel was set up by Uttarakhand in May 2022.
The report is understood to highlight the importance of gender equality and equal rights for daughters in ancestral properties, according to IE. Notably, it does not propose an increase in the marriageable age of women to 21 years. Instead, it suggests maintaining the marriageable age for women at 18 years.
“Whereas Honourable Governor, Uttarakhand had summoned the Fifth Vidhan Sabha of Uttarakhand to meet for the second session of the year 2023 at 11AM on Tuesday, the 05th September, 2023, in the Sabha Mandap, Vidhan Sabha Bhawan, Dehradun and which as adjourned sine die on 08th September 2023 in continuation there of the Honourable Speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly again summoned the House from Monday, 5 February, 2024 at 11 am in the Sabha Mandal, Vidhan Sabha, Dehradun,” the Uttarakhand Assembly Secretariat said in a note on Friday.
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was one of the key promises by the BJP during the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, 2022. The formation of the UCC committee was declared following the inaugural Cabinet meeting of the recently established government in Uttarakhand.
