Uttarakhand Cabinet clears Uniform Civil Code bill, to be tabled in Assembly on Tuesday

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Uttarakhand Cabinet on Sunday passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill following the recommendations made by a high-level government-appointed committee.

The bill, aimed at bringing uniformity in civil laws, will now be tabled in the Uttarakhand Assembly on February 6 (Tuesday), sources told India Today TV. The bill was passed during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Dhami at his residence in Dehradun.

The draft of the Uniform Civil Code bill for the hill state was handed over to the Chief Minister by the five-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.

The bill aims to provide a legal framework for uniform marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance laws for all citizens, irrespective of their religion in the state.

If passed on February 6 in the Assembly, Uttarakhand will become the first state of the country after Independence to adopt the Uniform Civil Code.

According to reports, the major recommendations of the committee which drafted the bill include, a complete ban on polygamy and child marriage, a common marriageable age for girls across all faiths and enforcing similar grounds and procedures for divorce.

A special four-day session of the Uttarakhand Assembly has been convened from February 5 to 8 to pass a legislation on the Uniform Civil Code.

Despite initial plans to discuss the UCC proposal in the cabinet meeting on February 3, it was postponed to allow ministers ample time for a thorough review. Chief Minister Dhami emphasized the importance of intensive deliberations before presenting the bill in the Uttarakhand Assembly.

Earlier, Pushkar Singh Dhami dismissed opposition objections, emphasizing that the UCC implementation is a commitment to fulfill promises made during the 2022 Assembly polls and not a tactical move for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

However, the draft has sparked strong reactions from political parties and religious organizations in Uttarakhand.

The Muslim Service Organisation issued a statement opposing the Uniform Civil Code, considering it contrary to religious specifics. Members of the Muslim community voiced concerns, claiming that laws specific to one religion are being targeted.

Chief Imam of Uttarakhand, Mufti Rais, criticized the government for not involving legal experts from all religions in the UCC formulation and questioned the lack of public scrutiny for the draft.

Furthermore, concerns were raised about the exclusion of tribes from the code, and there is a perception that only Muslim personal law is being targeted.