Saturday, 28 May 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
In a major decision taken in pursuance of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s pre-poll promise, the Uttarakhand government has constituted an expert committee for preparing the draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. The committee would be headed by retired Justice Ranjan Prakash Desai. Justice (retd) Pramod Kohli, social worker Manu Gaur, former chief secretary of Uttarakhand, Shatrughna Singh and vice chancellor of Doon University Surekha Dangwal would be the members of the expert committee. The committee would examine all existing and relevant laws regarding marriage, divorce, right to property, inheritance, adoption and protection for implementation of UCC in the State. A notification in this regard was issued by the additional chief secretary Radha Raturi. In the run up to the Assembly election of 2022 the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had promised that the BJP government would bring a uniform civil code in the state. In the very first meeting of the State cabinet after swearing-in of the new government, a decision for setting up of a committee of legal experts and all stakeholders was approved and on Friday the five member expert committee was formed.
It is worth mentioning here that among the various issues raised before the 2022 Assembly elections the two prominent issues were regarding the cause and potential effects of the drastic rise in population of a certain community in particular areas across the State and the need for the UCC. The issue of demographic changes and the effects it has had and may have in the future have been apparently put on the back burner after the BJP won the elections. However, the CM has now facilitated the second step towards fulfilling his pre-poll promise about facilitating the implementation of the UCC in the State.
