The Uttarakhand Assembly finally passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill on Wednesday, a day after it was introduced by the state Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
With this Uttarakhand becomes the first state to introduce and implement the Bill which proposes common law pertaining to marriage, inheritance of property, divorce etc.
The Bill which has now become an Act was drafted by committee headed by the retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana P Desai.
Along with Uttarakhand there are many other BJP ruled states lined up to introduce UCC including Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat. With this the BJP is also expected to bring the law at national level ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
From construction of the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir to the Uniform Civil Code were the three major election promises made by the BJP.
The new UCC brings a common law for all the issues relating to marriage, inheritance of property, divorce etc, which used to be earlier guided by personal laws of every religion. The new law makes both polygamy and bigamy illegal.
However, the Uttarakhand government has clearly stated that the rules of UCC will not be applicable to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community saying, “members of any Scheduled Tribes within the meaning of clause (25) of Article 366 read with Article 142 of the Constitution of India and the persons and group of persons whose customary rights are protected under Part XXI of the Constitution of India.”
