A nine-member committee was established by the Uttarakhand government on Saturday to design the regulations for the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Bill 2024, which was approved by the legislature on Wednesday.
The formation of the nine-member committee to design the regulations for the Uniform Civil Code Bill 2024 has been approved by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh, per an order from the state home department.
Governor Lieutenant General (Retd) Gurmit Singh has authorized the formation of a nine-member group to develop the Uniform Civil Code regulations, per a state home department directive.Shatrughan Singh, a retired chief secretary who serves as the committee’s chairman, Sudhir Singh, a member of the justice department, Additional Secretary, Personnel department, Additional Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Additional Secretary, Urban Development Department, Additional Secretary, Finance department, Barinderjit Singh, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Training, Member, Surekha Dangwal, Vice Chancellor, Doon University, Member, and Manu Gaur, social worker, are among the nine members.
According to the order, the Committee has been established to ensure that the requirements of Uniform Civil Code Bill 2024 are successfully implemented. The Committee has been tasked with creating a draft of the regulations that will include information about different procedures, authorities at the appropriate level, and the simplicity of putting the proposed Act’s provisions into practice.
Following a day-long debate, UCC Bill 2024 was approved by the state assembly on Wednesday night. The Bill is composed of seven chapters and four parts, totaling 392 sections.
The term “UCC” refers to a common body of laws that will supersede the customs of other faiths and tribes, addressing matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child support. It is one of the non-justiciable directive elements of State policy as stated in the Constitution.
The Bill includes provisions pertaining to equal rights for women to inherit ancestral properties, to adopt children, to divorce and get a divorce, to forbid polygamy, to require self-declaration and registration for live-in relationships, and to require marriage registration and divorce at the standard marriageable age of 21 for men and 18 for women. Notified Scheduled Tribes are granted an exemption from the bill’s provisions. The percentage of Scheduled Tribes in Uttarakhand is 2.89%.
Following the Bill’s passage, Chief Minister Dhami announced at a news conference that the Bill would now be forwarded to the President of India for approval. “We will begin the process for its implementation in the state after we receive approval from the President,” he declared. He stated that the administration may amend the Bill in the future if necessary.
The BJP made the ideological pledge to introduce UCC in the run-up to the 2022 assembly elections, which has been a part of its platform for the past ten years. When speaking to BJP booth workers in June of last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a compelling case for UCC. However, protests were soon launched by a number of tribal people in the Northeast and central India. The law of Uttarakhand is also anticipated to serve as a model for other governments that have committed to enacting the UCC, like Gujarat and Assam. According to the 2011 census, there are 13.9% of Muslims in Uttarakhand, primarily in the Terai region.