NEW DELHI: At a Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting on Monday, the Congress, DMK, and BRS raised questions on the intention, urgency and timing of the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) ahead of the 2024 general elections, according to sources.
As for the panel chairman and BJP MP Sushil Modi, he suggested that tribal communities from the Northeast and elsewhere should be kept out of the purview of the UCC since they get protection under the sixth schedule of the Constitution.
Amid growing buzz that the Centre is planning to table the UCC bill in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, the Parliamentary Panel on Law and Justice has called the meeting to seek the views of its members on the UCC.
Sources said members of the DMK, BRS and the Congress sought to know why the bill was being brought in a hurry. TMC and NCP members did not attend. The Congress and DMK argued that the 21st Law Commission, in its comprehensive report, had observed that it is “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage” to have a UCC.
The 22nd Law Commission rebutted, saying its predecessor had put out a consultation paper and not a set of recommendation, said sources. The BSP and Sanjay Raut of Uddhav’s Shiv Sena, however, were in support of a common law.
!7 members attend meet
The meeting was attended by 17 members, including the Department of Legal Affairs, the Legislative Department and the Law Commission