Uttarakhand to implement Uniform Civil Code today

BJP had promised to bring Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand in the run up to 2022 assembly polls.

Uttarakhand will be implementing Uniform Civil Code today, first state in independent India to do so.

According to CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, government has completed all preparations to implement the law, including approval of rules for the Act and training of officials. Reason given for the law is that it will bring ‘uniformity in society and equal rights and responsibilities for all’.

"UCC is just an offering made by our state in the big ‘yagya’ being performed by the PM to make the country a developed, organised, harmonious and self reliant nation", PTI quoted Dhami as saying in a statement.

BJP had promised to bring Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand in the run up to 2022 assembly polls. 

These polls were the second time the party was coming to power for second term, no other party has done so in the state since its creation in 2000.

According to CM Dhami, historic mandate was because of the party’s commitment to pass the UCC.

Uttarakhand state cabinet cleared a proposal to constitute an expert panel on Uniform Civil Code in March 2022 in the first cabinet meeting after winning the assembly polls. The panel headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai was constituted on May 27, 2022 to prepare the draft of the UCC.

Desai committee submitted a comprehensive draft in four volumes after one and a half year of dialogue with different sections of the state’s population. It was sent to the state on February 2, 2024 and just a few days later the Uttarakhand assembly passed the UCC bill. President Droupadi Murmu gave it her assent in March 2024, nearly two years after the initial proposal.

Another committee was formed after that, headed by former chief secretary Shatrughna Singh to frame the rules and regulations for the Act. Sinha committee submitted its report to the state government last year.

State cabinet gave its approval recently and allowed the CM to decide the date of implementation. 

Dhami decided the date to be January 27, 2025, a day after the country celebrated its 76th Republic Day.