The Uttarakhand Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, approved the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill on Sunday in accordance with the suggestions made by a highly-ranking committee that was established by the government.
On February 6 (Tuesday), the Uttarakhand Assembly is scheduled to receive the report, which aims to provide uniformity in civil laws.
In the meanwhile, India Today has obtained unique access to a number of the bill’s most important components, providing insight into the provisions intended to promote uniformity and equity across the board in the civil law system.
The UCC bill has the following salient characteristics, based on sources.
The Uttarakhand government’s Uniform Civil Code law guarantees equal property rights to sons and daughters, irrespective of their gender.
The purpose of the measure is to do away with the division of property rights between illegitimate and legitimate children. Every child is acknowledged as the couple’s biological child.
Children born by assisted reproductive technologies, surrogacy, or adoption are treated equally with other biological children under the Uniform Civil Code bill.
The bill gives a person’s spouse and children equal property rights after their death. Equal rights also apply to the parents of the deceased. This is a change from earlier legislation that gave the mother exclusive ownership rights over the deceased’s belongings.
The principal aim of the bill is to institute a legal framework that guarantees uniformity in the laws pertaining to marriage, divorce, land, property, and inheritance for every citizen of the state, regardless of their faith.
The committee that prepared the measure reportedly recommended, among other things, that polygamy and child marriage be completely outlawed, that girls of all faiths be married at a similar age, and that divorce grounds and procedures be applied uniformly.
Pushkar Singh Dhami presided over a special Cabinet meeting that approved the draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at his official Dehradun house. The Uttarakhand Assembly has called a special session specifically to pass the bill and turn it into an Act.
“Today’s cabinet meeting adopted the Uniform Civil Code report. Following the meeting, Pushkar Singh Dhami told a news outlet, “We will continue to work towards making it an Act.”
