Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on January 29 said that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) committee formed by the State will submit its final report to the government on February 2 and soon after, the State will table the it in the upcoming assembly session.
“The committee formed to prepare the draft of the UCC will submit the same to the State government on February 2. We will implement the UCC in the State by bringing a bill in the upcoming assembly session,” Mr Dhami wrote on X.
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He added, “Our government has always been committed to implementing the UCC in Uttarakhand in accordance with the vision and principles of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji of ‘One India, Best India’ and the determination and principles of the godlike people of Purvanchal.”
The Hindu, in its edition of January 27 had reported that the Uttarakhand is set to hold four days assembly, from February 05-08 in which the government is likely to pass the ‘much awaited’ UCC Bill.
UCC was also one of the poll promises of the BJP in the 2022 assembly elections.
The Uttarakhand government in June 2022 had formed a committee to examine ways for the implementation of a UCC. The committee, headed by retd justice Desai also has Retd Justice Pramod Kohli, social worker Manu Gaur (heading Taxpayers Association of Bharat), retired IAS officer Shatrughan Singh and Vice Chancellor of Doon University Surekha Dangwal as members.
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This committee, which started its work in May 2022, stated that it received around 2.15 lakh written submissions, including mass submissions (with multiple signatories) were received by the committee which has also met over 20,000 people personally via public outreach program.
The final UCC draft has focused on all sections, be it gender equality or elimination of arbitrariness and discrimination, from uniform laws on property rights to adoption rules, said a member of the UCC Committee.
The State has given four extensions to this committee in the span of around 20 months.
