NEW DELHI: Despite Prime Minister Modi’s renewed push for a Uniform Civil Code, the fate of the proposed legislation appears in limbo as the term of the 22nd Law Commission is set to expire on August 31.
The law panel, tasked with drafting a nationwide UCC — a long-time BJP poll promise — has been headless after Justice Rituraj Awasthi resigned as the chairperson in March this year after he was appointed as a Lokpal judicial member. Though the commission’s tenure will expire by the end of the month, there is no clarity on the appointment of the chairman.
The UCC has been an ideological plank of the BJP. However, its NDA allies, the JD(U), LJP and TDP seem to be noncommittal about PM Modi’s latest pitch for a ‘secular code’.
Speaking to this newspaper, Law Ministry sources said the draft will now take longer as the government needs to constitute a new commission and appoint a chairman. “Though consultations were over, the final draft was yet to be prepared,” said the official.
According to officials, the commission has held several rounds of consultations with religious scholars, civil society groups, and representatives from various religious and women’s organisations to formulate the draft bill. In June last year, the law panel issued a notification calling for the opinion of various stakeholders on the proposed legislation on the UCC. It received over 75 lakh responses on UCC after its notification inviting suggestions.
The UCC, which comes under Article 44 of the Constitution, calls for a common set of laws for all religious communities on matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, and succession.
The Justice Awasthi-led commission has been working on formulating a comprehensive draft bill on UCC since it was constituted in 2022, after a gap of four years.