Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government, which has shown some proactiveness over the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code initially, appears to be losing the enthusiasm now.
An expert committee constituted for the UCC, was supposed to submit a draft to the government by June 30. It failed to meet the deadline. Later, the draft was supposed to be submitted to the government by July 15. But till now, the draft UCC has not been submitted to the government by the expert panel.
Actually, after the formation of the Dhami 2.0 government, the Uttarakhand government had shown a lot of enthusiasm regarding the Uniform Civil Code. Now, the state government has slowed down on the UCC. In March, CM Dhami took oath as Chief Minister. Thereafter, in the first cabinet meeting of the Dhami government, it was decided that an expert committee will draft the UCC. The expert panel came on May 27 last year under the chairmanship of retired Justice Ranjana Desai.
Meanwhile, the expert committee held a press conference in Delhi and said that the draft of the UCC has been prepared. It said the draft will be handed over to the government soon. After that, there were discussions that the committee will submit the draft to the government by July 15, but it has not been done.
According to sources, the Uttarakhand government was asked to go slow on the UCC by the Centre. Dhami government said his government will examine the legal implications with the concerned department. On the question of implementing the UCC in the state, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the expert committee is still working on the draft.
Meanwhile, the Congress mocked the BJP government over a question raised regarding the discussion of UCC during Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's visit to Delhi. According to Garima Dasouni, state spokesperson of the Congress, whenever the head of the BJP government reaches Delhi, the discussion of UCC starts heating up. "The UCC is in cold storage in Uttarakhand. Neither the state has received permission to implement the UCC from the Centre, nor has the final report of the UCC been received by the state government. How can the law be implemented in the state?" questioned Garima.
