When the framers of the Constitution were drafting it, they left the subject of the Uniform Civil Code or UCC as an aspirational dream that could be fulfilled at a later and more opportune time.
Uttarakhand could become the first state where the Uniform Civil Code will come into force. In 2022, the Uttarakhand State Government started the process and entrusted the job of preparing a draft for the UCC to a team led by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.
The Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami-led government will place the draft of the Uniform Civil Code Uttarakhand 2024 Bill (UCC) before the state legislative assembly. The bill will be tabled in the forthcoming four-day special assembly session that began on Monday.
The State Cabinet of the CM Pushkar Singh Dhami-led government had already Okayed the final draft of the UCC, and it envisages uniform civil laws for all the communities who reside in the state. If the Bill clears the legislative assembly, it will be sent to the Governor for approval. After the Governor approves the bill, it will then become law. The UCC was a big sticking point in the elections, and the BJP had promised to make it a law in the state.
What is the Uniform Civil Code?
The Uniform Civil Code or the UCC is a set of laws that will govern personal matters like marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, and succession for all the citizens of the state irrespective of their religious beliefs. Today different laws govern these personal matters for different communities of different religions. The UCC will replace all such diverse laws, and there will be only one uniform civil law.
Finer Details Of Uniform Civil Code Uttarakhand 2024 Bill
As already mentioned, the draft of the law was prepared by a team led by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai and also included retired justice Pramod Kohli, social activist Manu Gaur, former Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh, and Vice Chancellor of Doon University, Surekha Dangwal. The draft is composed of 740 pages and has four volumes.
The final draft was prepared after extensive feedback in written, oral, online from public forums and 43 public outreach programs which included more than 60,000 people. The final bill has been described as a joint and collective effort and included opinions from a diverse section of the public. The Bill seeks to abolish polygamy and child marriage, give equal property inheritance rights to girls and boys, and also seeks to remove the distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate children, adopted and biological children.
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