Dhami govt announces UCC drafting committee in Uttarakhand 3 months after making promise

Dehradun: The Pushkar Singh Dhami government in Uttarakhand has constituted a five-member committee to draft a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the hill state, three months after the decision was announced.

Announced through a post on CM’s official Facebook Page 27 May. The committee will be headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (retd) of the Supreme Court.

The other members of the committee are former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court Pramod Kohli, former Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand Shatrughan Singh, Doon University Vice Chancellor Surekha Dangwal and social activist Manu Gaur.

Chief Minister did promised Implementation of UCC on February 12 during the campaign for assembly elections. After returning to power, the new cabinet – in its first meeting on 24 March – came with a decision To constitute a committee to draft the UCC.


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mandate of the panel

According to the orders issued by the state home department on Friday, the order given to the special committee includes preparing a report after studying the relevant existing personal laws of different communities and also to look into the drafting and implementation of the UCC.

Points of reference for this include laws relating to marriage, divorce, property rights and inheritance, inheritance and adoption rights.

Speaking to ThePrint, state cabinet minister Dhan Singh Rawat said that “the chief minister has done what was promised to the people of Uttarakhand in the BJP’s election manifesto”.

He said, “We are the first state in the country to take the promise of UCC a step further. This government has promised the people of Uttarakhand in the matter of UCC and it will fulfill it.”

The order of the UCC Drafting Committee does not mention a time limit for submission of the report. “It is a sensitive, time-consuming process and the committee will take time to finalize the draft,” Rawat said.

(Edited by Jinnia Ray Chowdhury)


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