Uttarakhand Cabinet Greenlights Uniform Civil Code, Paving the Way for Historic Implementation

Dehradun: In a pivotal move, the Uttarakhand government, led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, approved the draft report for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in a cabinet meeting held at the chief minister’s residence on Sunday evening. The five-member UCC panel had submitted the draft report on Friday, setting the stage for its presentation in a specially-convened assembly session scheduled for February 6.

Once the assembly passes the UCC, Uttarakhand will make history by becoming the first state post-independence to implement the Uniform Civil Code. The groundbreaking development has already attracted interest from other states, with Assam and Gujarat expressing a desire to adopt the “Uttarakhand UCC model.”

The Sunday evening cabinet meeting, focused solely on endorsing the UCC draft report, caught many by surprise. Earlier speculations had suggested that the cabinet, which convened on Saturday without addressing the UCC issue, would likely pass the draft on Tuesday during the assembly session.

According to sources, the cabinet meeting on Sunday had a singular agenda – to approve the UCC draft report. Before receiving the official nod, the entire cabinet was given a comprehensive presentation of the report. Interestingly, no official briefing followed the cabinet’s deliberations on Sunday.

The UCC draft committee, led by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, submitted a comprehensive 740-page report divided into four volumes on February 2. The culmination of this nearly two-year-long process, which began on May 27, 2022, marks a significant step toward the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code.

Key proposals put forth by the committee include the prohibition of practices like polygamy, halala, iddat, and child marriage. The UCC draft also advocates for a uniform age for girls’ marriage across all religions, equal inheritance rights for both genders, and mandatory registration of live-in relationships. Notably, scheduled tribes (STs) have been exempted from the purview of the UCC bill, addressing concerns raised by the tribal population, which constitutes around 3% of the state and had expressed dissent against the UCC due to their special status.