NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand, the first state in the country to constitute an expert panel to draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC), has received over three lakhs suggestions from the public, say its members. Some of the suggestions include inheritance rights for Muslim women, rights of LGBTQ community and live-in relationship couples, a ban on polygamy and polyandry, and equal rights of property for Muslim Women among others, according to the committee members.
The Pushkar Singh Dhami government set up a five-member committee in my this year, led by former Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai to discuss various aspects of a ‘common law for all’ in the hill state. The committee had received 22, 000 emails, 35,000 suggestions by post, and 61,000 uploaded on the portal, said one of the members.
Speaking to this newspaper, former High Court Chief Justice Permod Kohli said that the committee received overwhelming responses, especially from the tribal belts. “Our team visited many tribal areas and we received overwhelming responses,” he said.
The committee’s mandate is to study the existing personal laws of different communities and draft a common law for all. In 2018, the 21st Law Commission, which prepared a working paper on UCC after extensive discussions with various stakeholders across the country, suggested that Muslim personal laws will have to be codified before embarking on drafting laws for UCC.
However, one of the members, requesting not to be named, said that the proposed law will have a thrust on gender equality instead of personal laws. “The UCC in the state will be framed on the principle of gender equality. It wouldn’t be based on religions and personal laws,” he said. Legal expert Faizan Mustafa had told this newspaper that Uttarakhand expert committee on UCC lacks experts on various personal laws. “Committees must consist of eminent experts in various personal laws,” he had said.
Key suggestions
Key suggestions include inheritance rights for Muslim women, rights of LGBTQ community and live-in relationship couples, a ban on polygamy and polyandry, and equal rights of property for Muslim Women among others