Uttarakhand convenes assembly session from Feb 5 to discuss Uniform Civil Code

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government has convened a session of the legislative assembly from February 5 to discuss the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

The state government issued a statement Friday that confirmed that the assembly has been summoned on Monday, 5 February but did not provide any other details.

The five-member committee headed by Justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, formed to present a report on UCC, is expected to submit this on February 2. The committee’s term ended on January 26 but HT learns that it has been given an extension of two weeks.

UCC refers to a common set of laws that will subsume customary laws across faiths and tribes and govern issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance. In the run-up to the state assembly elections in February 2022, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced that implementation of UCC would be the first decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government if voted to power.

Also Read: Homogeneity under UCC can be tricky legal terrain

The UCC has, for years, been a constant in the manifesto of the BJP, along with the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and the abrogation of Article 370, both of which have happened. In January 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that states have the power to constitute committees to examine the feasibility of implementing UCC.

Dhami, in his message on the eve of Republic Day, said that a session of the state assembly would be called to implement the UCC in the state.

Dhami said, “Five-member committee formed for the Uniform Civil Code has completed the draft. As soon as the draft is received, a session of the Assembly will be called and the Uniform Civil Code law will be implemented in the entire Uttarakhand”.

After theBJP came to power, theUttarakhand government in May 2022 formed the five-member draft committee headed by Justice (retd) Desai to prepare a draft for implementation of UCC in the state.

Dhami, sharing the reasons for implementing UCC in the state, had said earlier that it is being done “to provide uniformity (in law) to all religious communities and to preserve the culture of Devbhoomi, the land of Gods.. as had been promised in our manifesto at the time of elections”.

Uttarakhand has a 13.9 % Muslim population according to the 2011 census, mostly in the Terai area.