Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami tables the UCC Bill in Uttarakhand Assembly today.
Dehradun: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttarakhand government introduced legislation on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the State Assembly today. It excludes population control measures and the Scheduled Tribes who constitute 3 per cent of Uttarakhand’s population.
State Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami tabled the UCC Bill in the House on the second day of the four-day special session of the State Assembly today. Dhami had entered the House with an original copy of the Constitution of India.
Click here to read the UCC Bill
The UCC Bill, once debated and passed by the State Assembly, will make Uttarakhand the first state in the country after Independence to adopt the Uniform Civil Code. The only State with UCC is Goa where it has been operational since the days of Portuguese rule. The Uttarakhand cabinet approved its final draft on February 4, 2024, which proposes uniform civil laws for all communities in the state.
Other BJP-ruled states are also likely to follow the suit soon and some of them have already sounded their intention to this effect after the Uttarakhand government’s move today.
विधानसभा में ऐतिहासिक “समान नागरिक संहिता विधेयक” पेश किया। #UCCInUttarakhand pic.twitter.com/uJS1abmeo7
— Pushkar Singh Dhami (@pushkardhami) February 6, 2024
Earlier, the Uttarakhand government had formed a Committee of Experts with Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai as its Chairperson, tasked to prepare the report on implementing a Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand. The specifics of the four-volume, 749-page report remain undisclosed to the public. The other members of the committee were Justice (retd) Permod Kohli, Shatrughna Singh, IAS (Retd), Manu Gaur, Social Activist, Prof. Surekha Dangwal, Vice Chancellor, Doon University, while Ajay Mishra, Resident Commissioner, Uttarakhand, was its Secretary.
The Committee examined the relevant laws regulating personal civil matters of residents of Uttarakhand. It prepared draft laws and suggested changes in existing laws on the subject, including marriage, divorce, property rights, succession/inheritance, adoption, maintenance, custody and guardianship.
– global bihari bureau
