The All India Muslim Personal Law Board moved an impleadment application in the Supreme Court Saturday opposing a PIL which sought uniformity in divorce, maintenance and alimony laws.
The PIL was filed in December last year by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.
When Upadhyay filed another PIL seeking uniformity in adoption and guardianship laws, a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian had sought the response from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice and Ministry of women and Child Development.
The impleadment application is moved when the subject is not a party to the case but believes the matter will affect his/her rights. The court can allow the application if it finds merit in it.
These PILs by Upadhyay has sparked the debate about the Uniform Civil Code in the country. AIMPLB has been consistently opposing any move towards UCC arguing it’ll interfere in their personal laws.
Article 44 of the Indian Constitution guides the state towards the implementation of a uniform civil code for citizens. Upadhyaya has made this the ground for his petitions.
In the Shah Bano case of 1985, the Supreme Court had said for uniform civil code to promote the cause of national integration. At other times too, the Supreme Court had expressed its opinion about working towards achieving the goal set by Article 44 of the Constitution.
