Uttarakhand Civil Code: State Assembly session to begin today; UCC bill to be tabled on February 6

The Uttarakhand Assembly session begin on February 5 in Vidhan Bhavan, Dehradun. In this special session of the Assembly, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s Government will table the Common Civil Code Bill tomorrow, February 6.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that the Common Civil Code bill will be tabled in the upcoming session of the Assembly after a draft report related to Common Civil Code got approved at a Cabinet meeting on February 4.

The Common Civil Code bill proposes uniform civil laws for all communities in the State. “In the cabinet meeting on February 4, a proposal to bring a bill on Common Civil Code in the upcoming Assembly session was unanimously passed. We will table it in the Assembly. We will move forward in the direction to make it an Act,” Chief Minister Dhami told media.

Earlier, a draft of the Common Civil Code was handed over to the Chief Minister by the five-member committee headed by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai. The Common Civil Code drafting panel also comprised retired justice Pramod Kohli, social activist Manu Gaur, former Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh and Vice Chancellor of Doon University, Surekha Dangwal. The drafting panel was given a total of four extensions.

The Common Civil Code will provide a legal framework for uniform marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance laws for all citizens, irrespective of their religion. The passage of the Common Civil Code Bill will mark the fulfillment of a major promise made by the BJP to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls.

Earlier, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami informed that the draft report consists of 740 pages and has four volumes, which include suggestions from 2,33,000 people in the state.

“The village, which is known as the last village of India, was referred to by the PM as the first village, so the committee started the work of taking suggestions from their only, and other 43 places. A total of 2,33,000 people gave suggestions on it which includes 10 per of the families of Uttarakhand,” Chief Minister Dhami said.

At its very first meeting in the second term, in March 2022, the Dhami Government decided to constitute a committee to prepare a draft for the Common Civil Code.

(with inputs from ANI)