PNS/ DEHRADUN
Weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the much-debated Uniform Civil Code bill passed by the Uttarakhand assembly and then sent to the Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) has finally received the Presidential assent on Wednesday. Confirming this, the State secretary (Home) Sailesh Bagauli said that the Governor had sent the bill to the President with the matter enshrined in the bill falling in the concurrent list of the Constitution.
With the approval of the President Droupadi Murmu, constitutional decks have been cleared for its enforcement in the State. Once it is enforced, Uttarakhand will be the first State in India to implement the UCC Act which will address a gamut of issues like polygamy, polyandry, halala, iddat and talaaq while ensuring equal marriageable age and equal inheritance rights across the religious communities.
A State government officer privy to the details said that after the bill had been sent to the Governor, he had sent it to the department of legal affairs and from there it had been sent to the President’s office for its final approval.
