Uniform Civil Code

• The five-member committee constituted for drafting the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Uttarakhand handed over its final report to the State’s Chief Minister.

ABOUT THE RECOMMENDATIONS

• The UCC draft, spanning around 750 pages and spread across four volumes, is written in ‘full’ Hindi and does not have a single word of ‘Urdu’ or any other language.
• The committee has recommended strict punishment for triple talaq and nikahhalala practices, pertaining to Muslim personal laws and also suggested keeping the tribal community out of the UCC ambit.
  • The tribal population of Uttarakhand constitutes around 2.9 per cent of the total population.
• 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.
• The Bill has recommended that no tampering should be done with the Schedule Tribes (STs), transgender rights, religious matters, and traditions.
• The draft has also advised ban on polygamy and polyandry.
• It has recommended to make live-in relationships legal but ensure mandatory registration of such couples.
• It also recommended the minimum age of marriage for women to be 21 years and women will have equal rights in inheritance as men.
• The committee has also recommended for uniform use of the existing laws under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act to ensure same adoption laws for all communities.

About the committee

• The Uttarakhand government in June 2022 had formed a committee to examine ways for the implementation of UCC.
• The committee, headed by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, also has retired 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.
• The committee had convened 72 meetings to interact with about 10,000 people in Uttarakhand and those from the State living outside, to finally prepare the report.
• The State has given four extensions to this committee in the span of around 20 months.