DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand BJP government has embarked on the exercise to implement the Uniform Civil Code in the state. A committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai, has received over 1.25 lakh suggestions in the past month.
Senior member of the committee, Shatrughan Singh told this newspaper, “The committee has received a suggestion from at least three dozen people asking that elderly parents should get the right in the property of adult children.”
Singh, a former chief secretary and member of the drafting committee, said, “Several suggestions sent to the expert committee set up to draft the Uniform Civil Code have sought a reverse inheritance law to give rights to elderly parents in the property of adult children. People from remote areas of Agastamuni, Gopeshwar and Mana have expressed such apprehensions and requested for such a law to be enacted.”
Elaborating on the same issue, Singh further said, “Similar voices have also been raised from the Kumaon region of the state.” Legal experts believe that if the government implements these suggestions, then no elderly parents will be abandoned in Devbhoomi in the future.
Apart from this, another important fact that came before the expert committee was that the locals of Munsiyari Dharchula area want flexibility about the Marriage Act. For example, marriage between the children of “mama” and “fufa” is prohibited, but according to local customs there, there have been some marriages that are not legally recognized.
The five-member committee is headed by retired SC judge, justice Ranjana Desai. The other members of the committee are Uttarakhand HC’s justice (retd.) Pramod Kohli, former senior bureaucrat Shatrughan Singh, social activist Manu Gaur and Doon University V-C Surekha Dangwal.
1.25L suggestions on Uniform Civil Code
Among the 1.25 lakh suggestions is the one on reverse inheritance law, which means giving rights to elderly parents in the property of adult children.