Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], November 11 (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday asserted that the process to implement the Uniform Civil Code will not be delayed after the UCC committee submits its draft. “We have already said that as soon as we get the draft of the UCC committee, whose draft is in the final stage, without much holdup, we will try to complete the processes so that further proceedings can be completed successfully,” CM Dhami said.
However, the tenure of the expert committee preparing the draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for Uttarakhand which ended on September 27 was extended by a period of four months. A statement by the Chief Minister’s office on September 23 this year said, “The Uttarakhand government has extended the tenure of the expert committee headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai for the Uniform Civil Code by four months.” The panel was constituted on May 27, 2022, and it is the third time an extension has been given to the committee.
After receiving public suggestions, the committee has done the work of preparing a draft but the report has not been submitted to the government yet, the statement added. The UCC was promised to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls in Uttarakhand.
Article 44 of the Constitution of India says that the State shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) throughout the territory of India. The UCC proposes a common set of laws dealing with marriage, inheritance, adoption, and other matters.
The UCC, which had been a hot topic that had polarised opinions over the last 4 years, hit the forefront yet again after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong case for the implementation of uniform legislation in an address in Bhopal.
PM Modi said the country cannot run on two laws and that the Uniform Civil Code was in keeping with the founding principles and ideals of the Constitution.
“Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights…Supreme Court has also asked to implement the UCC. These (Opposition) people are playing vote bank politics,” PM Modi said while addressing booth-level workers in Bhopal. (ANI)
