Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday said a committee formed to prepare the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill will submit its draft to the state government on February 2. He said the UCC bill would be brought in the upcoming assembly session.
A five-member committee was constituted to prepare a draft on the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the hill state.
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“The committee formed to prepare the draft of the Uniform Civil Code will submit its draft to the state government on February 2 and we will implement the Uniform Civil Code in the state by bringing a bill in the upcoming assembly session,” the chief minister said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Dhami said his government had always been committed to implementing UCC in the state in line with PM Modi’s vision of “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat”.
While talking to ANI, Dhami said, “Bringing a Uniform Civil Code was our election pledge before the people of the state in the Uttarakhand Assembly. The people of Devbhoomi gave us their blessings to form the government and complete the promise. We formed a committee in the leadership of Justice Ranjana Desai to prepare a draft.”
“The committee has finished its work and informed us that they will submit the draft on February 2, after which we will assess it. We will put it in front of the cabinet and so the required action will be taken towards making it an Act,” he added.
The Uttarakhand CM further said that divorce, live-in relationships, marriage registrations, polygamy, adoption, parents’ maintenance and women’s rights on property will be covered under the UCC in the state.
The Uttarakhand Assembly will be convened for a special one-day session on February 5 to discuss and pass the Uniform Civil Code Bill.
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What is Uniform Civil Code?
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is a proposal to formulate and implement a single set of civil laws to govern marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption for every Indian, irrespective of caste, religion or sexual orientation, replacing the existing religion-based personal laws.
The expert committee to prepare a UCC draft was constituted on May 27, 2022. The committee led by Justice Ranjana Desai, a retired Supreme Court judge, also includes Delhi High Court judge Justice Pramod Kohli, former chief secretary Shatrughan Singh, Doon University Vice-Chancellor Surekha Dangwal and social worker Manu Gaur.
The 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.
