Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code draft ready; will soon be implemented, says Dhami

Justice Ranjana Desai on Friday announced that the draft UCC for Uttarakhand will be submitted to the state government. Desai also said that the Law Commission is considering to work on the issue.

New Delhi/Dehradun:The Uniform Civil Code will soon be implemented in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Friday after a committee of experts set up by the state government announced a draft is ready.

Speaking to news agency ANI on Friday, CM Dhami said the committee was to submit its final draft to the government on Friday, but will now do so in July. He claimed that Uttarakhand would emerge as a shining example before the whole country with regard to the implementation of the UCC.

"Uttarakhand government has taken upon itself the responsibility of implementing the UCC. Article 44 of our constitution states that the law should be equal for everyone. The people of Uttarakhand have supported it (UCC) and have shown us the way. It is a great honour and an opportunity for our state to implement the ideas and principles the Constitution was founded on," the CM said.

In a tweet, he said, "As per the promise made to the people of the state, today on June 30, the committee formed to prepare the draft of the Uniform Civil Code has completed its work." "Soon #UniformCivilCode will be implemented in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand," Dhami said in the tweet in Hindi.

Earlier in the day, Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai, who heads the panel, told a press conference in Delhi that the draft of the proposed UCC for Uttarakhand is ready and would soon be submitted to the state government. Desai, who heads the five-member expert committee to finalise the draft UCC told at a press conference in New Delhi that the draft is complete and it will be printed along with the report of the expert committee. Desai said that the committee has taken into account the opinions of politicians, ministers, legislators and the common people of Uttarakhand while preparing the draft.

On June 2, Desai and other members of the committee met Law Commission Chairman Justice (retired) Rituraj Awasthi and members KT Sankaran, Anand Paliwal and DP Verma. Desai said that the Law Commission is already considering to work on this issue.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had earlier said that the draft UCC for Uttarakhand will be finalised by June 30. Prior to the Uttarakhand assembly elections, Dhami had spoken about implementing UCC if the party came to power. After formation of the government, the decision to prepare the draft UCC was taken at the first Cabinet meeting. Then a five-member expert committee was formed headed by Desai.

For the last one year, the expert committee is involved in preparing the draft UCC. Finally, the draft is complete and will now be submitted to the state government.

UCC is aimed at bringing in a common law for all by doing away with the personal laws based on religions, traditions and customs. In 2019, the Lok Sabha manifesto of BJP promised UCC's implementation if the saffron party came to power. The Centre is considering to introduce a bill in this regard in the monsoon session of Parliament. PM Narendra Modi has recently said that the country cannot run on different laws and emphasised that the UCC was included in the Constitution.