Uttarakhand to implement UCC by January 2025: CM Dhami

Uttarakhand to implement UCC by January 2025: CM Dhami

S.M.A.KAZMI

Dehradun , Dec 18

A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced in the parliament that Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would be introduced and implemented in all Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states on the lines of Uttarakhand, state Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that Uniform Civil Code will be implemented in the state from January 2025.  He further said that all preparations have been completed and Uttarakhand will become the first state to implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC) after independence.

There was some hitch in the ruling BJP/RSS dispensation on it’ implementation since it was slated to be implemented on November 9, 2024, the Uttarakhand Formation day, as per the announcements made by the Chief Minister but it did not happen. Rather, the statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding a Secular uniform Code for the entire country created confusion. Although, the Prime Minister did not specify whether the Secular Uniform Code would be the same as Uniform Civil Code (UCC) prepared by Uttarakhand state or not. Since November 9, 2024,Pushkar Singh Dhami had reiterated his commitment to implement the Act but had not given a definite date.

But ,today presiding over a meeting of Uttarakhand Investment and Infrastructure Development Board (UIIDB) , CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the state government has completed its homework towards implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as per its resolution. He said that after the formation of the new government in the state in March 2022, in the first meeting of the cabinet itself, it was decided to constitute an expert committee to implement the Uniform Civil Code(UCC) in the state. A five-member expert committee was constituted under the chairmanship of retired judge Ranjana Prakash Desai. On the basis of the report of the committee, the Uniform Civil Code Bill 2024 was passed by the State Legislative Assembly on 07 February 2024. After getting the assent of the President of India on this bill, its notification was issued on 12 March 2024. The rules of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) , Uttarakhand 2024 Act have also been prepared.

He said that Uttarakhand is now fully prepared to implement the Uniform Civil Code from January, 2025 and instructed the officials, to provide proper training to the personnel to implement the provisions of the code as well as to mobilize all kinds of basic facilities. Also, by keeping as many services online as possible, the convenience of the general public should be taken care of.

The Chief Minister said that in view of the accessibility of the general public, a portal and mobile app have also been prepared to implement the Uniform Civil Code, so that all the facilities of registration, appeal etc. are being made available through online medium.

Dhami said that Uniform Civil Code (UCC) f Uttarakhand, following the basic spirit of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas”, will give a new direction to the society and  open new doors for empowerment of women and children especially of “Devbhoomi”.

The Act promises to provide uniformity in marriage, divorce, succession and live-in relationships and matter related thereto raises more questions and adds to the confusion than providing any kind of ‘promised uniformity’.

The uniformity in the Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024 Act contradicts itself as its preambles states that the bill would not apply to members of the scheduled tribes. The question arises that If the bill is beneficial for all the citizens of the state, then why members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes have been deprived of this piece of legislation. The answer to this riddle lays in the political calculations of the ruling dispensation which did not want to annoy the Scheduled Tribes population.

Some of the other salient features of the bill also raise questions about its applicability and legitimacy before the court of law. Interestingly, this code would “extend to whole state of Uttarakhand and also applies to the residents of Uttarakhand who resides outside the territories to which this code extends”. This could be problematic and would be in conflict with other applicable laws in other states and union territories of the country.

For instance, the Act proposes to make live-in relationships mandatory to be registered and failure to do so would bring legal action. Generally, most of the people particularly young conceal their live in relationships and would hesitate to come forward to get themselves registered in a register which would be open for public viewing. Would this fringe upon the privacy rights of the individuals? What the Uttarakhand residents living outside in such relationships do?

Similarly, the Act propose that marriages and divorces should be registered. Already there is provision for marriages to be registered but by making registration of divorces that too in public registers would again infringe upon personal and privacy rights.

The Act as per ‘Sangh Parivar’ agenda targets minorities particularly the Muslims in the matters of marriage, divorce, re-marriage and succession. As per the provisions of the bill, more than one marriage is banned which would affect Muslim Personal Law which allows up to four marriages for a Muslim man. The bill also bans ‘Triple Talaaq’ which had already been banned under a central law passed by the Union government. The practice of ‘Iddat’ followed by Muslim women after divorce or death of their husband also stands repealed.

The age of marriage for girls is proposed at 18 and that of man at 21 years. These provisions are already there in the Hindu laws but in Muslims, puberty is the criterion for age of girls that is normally above 15 years.

The proposed UCC ignores the fact that most of the ssues related to marriage, divorce, re- marriage, adoption and succession are already covered by separate personal laws of Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Jews. It is an established norm that if the legislative space is already occupied by a central law that would override any other law passed by any state legislature on similar issues.  All these issues are already covered under Hindu laws for Hindus and Muslim personal laws passed by the Parliament.

The Muslims would be affected in succession, marriage and remarriage as the UCC would infringe upon their personal laws. This clearly shows that it is only aimed targeting the minorities.

The ‘Sangh Parivar’ has wisely chosen Uttarakhand and its’ recent ‘Hindutva’ heart throb Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to float the ballon of Uniform Civil Code(UCC) in the latest ‘Hindutva’ laboratory of Uttarakhand.

The ruling ‘Sangh Parivar’ dispensation would also highlight the opposition to the UCC by the opposition parties as appeasement politics towards Muslims, and the entire community would branded vilified for their ‘resistance’ to reforms and further lead to communal polarisation much to their political benefit in the long run. Already, Muslim community has started opposing the move and there are calls for knocking at the doors of the courts against the proposed UCC. Any court battle and resultant publicity by plaint media would also be to the advantage of the ruling dispensation.

Although, the Constitution of India talks of having a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for the entire country, the attempt by ‘Sangh Parivar’ to float the ballon of UCC is an attempt to further polarise communally, reap political benefits and then test the waters for its’ nationwide implementation at a later stage.