Saturday, 13 July 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The full report of the expert committee on Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is now in the public domain. The comprehensive report divided into four parts was made public by the member of the committee and former chief secretary Shatrughna Singh on Friday. The report is available on the website of the UCC Uttarakhand. Addressing the media persons on the occasion, Singh said that the draft code of the report (part 2 and 4) was made public in February this year when the report was handed over to the State government by the expert committee. He said that the remaining parts ( 1 and 3) comprising reports and field visits were not released due to the implementation of the model code of conduct due to the Lok Sabha elections.
The State government had constituted an expert committee headed by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai on May 27, 2022. The committee held 43 public hearings and dialogues and received 2.33 lakh suggestions. The expert committee handed over its report to the State government on February 2, 2024 following which the government tabled the UCC bill in the State Assembly. After the passage of the historic bill the President of India gave her approval to the UCC bill on March 11, 2024.
On the orders of the government, a committee is now preparing the regulations for implementing the UCC in the State. Singh said that the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced that the UCC will be implemented in the State in October and the committee will prepare the draft of the regulations in time. He said that work on coding part is in the advanced stage of completion. Singh added that efforts are being done to make the regulations user friendly and their integration with Aadhaar and other IDs.
Giving a detailed account of the comprehensive study and research done by the committee, Singh said that similar contexts in the laws of other countries, religious texts and ancient scriptures were studied. He said that while opinion of the people on the necessity of UCC was divided equally in written submissions to the committee, the members in the field visits found that 96 per cent of people were in favour of UCC. Singh informed that although the tribal communities are kept out of the purview of UCC, the interested members of the community can come under its cover by submitting a declaration. On a question of possible breach of privacy in the cases of live-in relationships, Singh said that every possible protection would be provided to the couples in the regulations. He added that the database will be protected from breaches and the registration process of live-in relationship will be made so easy that it could be done from their homes.
The members of committee on regulations of UCC, Manu Gaur, Surekha Dangwal, additional secretary of Home Ridhim Agarwal and additional director general of police Amit Sinha were present on the occasion
