NEW DELHI, Oct 7: Uttarakhand has come closer to implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as the Committee formulating rules for it has completed its discussions and will submit its suggestions in the form of a booklet to the Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
If accepted, Uniform Civil Code could be in place in the state before November 9. The Uttarakhand Assembly had passed the UCC bill in February. On March 13, the bill was signed by President Droupadi Murmu making it possible for the state to become the first in the country to implement it.
Last month, Mr Dhami had said the state government would implement the Uniform Civil Code before November 9, the Foundation Day of Uttarakhand. Implementation of the Uniform Civil Code will subject all the citizens – irrespective of religion — to a common set of rules for marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, and other personal matters.
It is expected to lay down a common and higher marriageable age for girls, give Muslim women adoption rights, ban practices such as halala and iddat (Islamic practices a woman must go through after a divorce or the death of the husband), promote the declaration of live-in relationships, and simplify adoption procedures.
The bill excludes population control measures and the Scheduled Tribes, constituting 3 per cent of Uttarakhand’s population. A government-appointed panel, led by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, had drafted a four-volume, 749-page report containing several recommendations.
The panel collected 2.33 lakh pieces of written feedback online and organised more than 70 public forums. During these meetings, panel members engaged with roughly 60,000 people to help develop the draft. Other BJP-ruled states also hope to implement the civil code. Rajasthan has said it wanted to introduce a UCC bill in the next assembly session.
(Manas Dasgupta)