The Uttarakhand government on Friday announced an expert committee to examine ways for the implementation of a uniform civil code, including a review of laws governing marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, adoption and other personal laws.
Retired judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, who is also the current head of the delimitation commission, will head the committee. It comprises retired judge 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.
According to the notification issued by the government, the committee would examine all laws and matters related to personal law across communities, and draft a uniform civil code.
The term of the committee has not been mentioned in the notification.
Dhami’s promise
The move comes after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had, two days before polling in the State in February, declared that if re-elected, his government would set in motion efforts to implement a uniform civil code. In fact, the single item on the agenda of the first Cabinet meet held by him after he took oath again as Chief Minister in March, was to clear the proposal for setting up a committee.
According to sources in the government, while there has been no mass movement seeking the implementation of a uniform civil code, for the BJP, the move is an article of faith, and rather than a wholesale push for a uniform civil code across the country, which could be problematic, the party wants at least the State governments headed by it to attempt it. Goa already has a uniform civil code but it dates back to the 1870s when the State was under Portuguese rule and not a part of the Indian Union.
