Uttarakhand government to implement UCC on January 27

All preparations have been completed to implement the UCC, including getting approval of the rules for the implementation of the Act and training of officials concerned. The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will bring about uniformity in the society and ensure equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said

Dehradun: The Uniform Civil Code will be implemented in Uttarakhand on January 27, making it the first State in independent India to put into effect such a law, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said.

All preparations have been completed to implement the UCC, including getting approval of the rules for the implementation of the Act and training of officials concerned, Dhami said in a statement.

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The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will bring about uniformity in the society and ensure equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens, he said. “UCC is just an offering made by our State in the great ‘yagya’ being performed by the Prime Minister to make the country a developed, organised, harmonious and self-reliant nation,” he said.

The law’s implementation was a major commitment of the BJP in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls which saw the party storm to power for a second consecutive term, something never done by any other party in the State since its creation in 2000.

Dhami had even attributed the historic mandate to the party’s commitment on passing the UCC. As soon as Dhami formed the government again in March 2022, the state cabinet at its very first meeting chaired by him cleared a proposal for the formation of an expert committee to draft the law.

An expert committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai was constituted on May 27, 2022 to prepare the draft of the UCC. The panel headed by Desai set the ball rolling on the implementation of UCC by submitting a comprehensive draft in four volumes, prepared after one and a half years of dialogue with different sections of the State’s population.

The panel sent the draft to the State government on February 2, 2024 and a legislation on it was passed just a few days later by the state assembly on February 7. It was given president’s assent nearly a month later paving the way for its implementation.

An expert committee headed by former chief secretary Shatrughna Singh, formed to frame the rules and regulations for the implementation of the Act, submitted its report to the State government late last year.

The State Cabinet gave its approval recently and authorised the Chief Minister to decide a date for its implementation.

On Monday, Uttarakhand will become the first State to implement the UCC and set a model for other States to follow. Several BJP-ruled States, including Assam, have already expressed their desire to adopt Uttarakhand’s UCC as a model.