Law Commission Considering To Work On Civil Code: Justice RP Desai

The Law Commission is considering to work on the issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai said after a meeting with its chairperson and members here on Friday.

Desai heads a committee preparing a draft of the code for Uttarakhand.

Desai and members of the Uttarakhand panel met the Law Commission chairman, Justice (retired) Ritu Raj Awasthi, and members K T Sankaran, Anand Paliwal and D P Verma.

"It was a courtesy call. Because we are working on it (UCC) and they are also perhaps considering it," she told reporters after the meeting at Uttarakhand Sadan.

"They were asking what work we have done. So we gave them some ideas. That's all," she added.

Asked if the work done by the Uttarakhand UCC committee can be replicated at the national level, she said, "It is our wish that we come up with such good work which can be followed by other states." About the draft of the UCC for Uttarakhand, Desai said the committee of experts has completed public consultations and is in the process of studying the public representations and other materials received so far.

"...public representations and all...we are studying them and formulating a consultation paper. We have drafts of our individual ideas and that is almost ready, and we are collating it. Probably, we will do it soon," she said.

"But, I can't promise that the draft will be ready by June 30," she said, adding, "We have received a lot of suggestions from the stakeholders." Desai said that the committee is working day and night to complete the task as soon as possible.

On May 15, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the UCC committee had completed 90 per cent of the work and would submit its proposals by June 30.

Desai said, "We have done a lot of work. Our sub-committees travelled across Uttarakhand and met people, different community members and religious groups. We met all political parties and sought their views.... We are giving shape to the draft. Hopefully you will get it soon." Asked about the response of the minority community members on the issue during the consultation exercise, Desai said, "We got support from the minority community and some opposition was also there. We will look into that." "But we cannot say that everybody opposed," she added.

The Uttarakhand government, in May last year, had set up the five-member committee of experts under Justice (retired) Desai to examine the relevant laws regulating personal civil matters of residents of Uttarakhand and to prepare draft law/laws or suggest changes in existing laws on the subject that includes marriage, divorce, property rights, succession/inheritance, adoption, maintenance, custody and guardianship.

To this end, the committee had also been tasked to prepare a report on implementing a Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand.