Parliamentary Standing Committee to hear stakeholders on Uniform Civil Code today

The parliamentary standing committee will hear the opinion of all stakeholders on UCC at the meeting scheduled at 3 pm on Monday.

New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee will hold a meeting on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on Monday to hear the opinion of all stakeholders.

Head of the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice Sushil Modi said that the panel will seek views of all stakeholders on the issue. He said that the meeting of the committee is non-political as the panel has members from all political parties. "Members are reminded that the next meeting of the department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice will be held at 3 pm on Monday," stated a release issued by the committee earlier.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a fresh pitch for UCC at a rally in Bhopal, evoking criticism from the opposition, which claimed it to be a "polarisation" tactics. Modi had said that a country cannot run on two laws and accused the opposition parties of playing vote bank politics on the issue. Reports suggest that the Centre may introduce a bill on implementing the UCC during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament that is scheduled to begin from July 20.

Earlier, the Law Commission had sought views from the common people and recognised religious organisations to examine the UCC. Union minister Piyush Goyal told in a press conference he was hopeful that all parties would support UCC.

The UCC, which comes under Article 44 of the Constitution calls for formulation of one law for the country that will be applicable to all religious communities in matters namely marriage, divorce, alimony, inheritance and child custody. Presently, the communities have their own personal laws.