Uttarakhand to implement UCC today; here’s what will change

Making the announcement on the occasion of Republic Day on Sunday, 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.

An offering in great ‘yagya’: Dhami

Dhami said UCC will bring about uniformity in society and ensure equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens.

"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.

Also read: BJP manifesto: ‘Poor, youth, women our priority,’ says Modi; promises UCC implementation

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.

Expert panel

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.

Quick implementation

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.

Also read: 'After UCC, individuals won't be able to marry four women or have 25 children'

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.

Several BJP-ruled states, including Assam, have already expressed their desire to adopt Uttarakhand's UCC as a model.

What the law entails?

Uttarakhand’s UCC will govern and regulate the laws relating to marriage and divorce, succession, live-in relationships and related matters.

It sets equal marriageable age for men and women, grounds of divorce and procedures across all religions, and bans polygamy and 'halala'.

Also read: BJP to implement UCC in Jharkhand, tribals to be out of its ambit: Shah

Doon University Vice Chancellor Surekha Dangwal, who was part of the panel that drafted the UCC and was among those who framed the rules for its implementation, described provisions aimed at bringing about gender parity in matters of marriage, divorce and succession, treating all children as legitimate including those born of void or voidable marriages, simplifying the process of preparing a will and regulating live-in relationships as the most outstanding in the UCC.

"Gender parity across all religions is the spirit of UCC," Dangwal told PTI.

Silver lining

The UCC makes registration of all marriages and live-in relationships mandatory. Facilities have been created to help people register their marriages online so that they do not have to run around government offices for it, she said.

"Another remarkable feature of the UCC is that it treats all children as legitimate. We have in fact totally done away with the term illegitimate in the context of children," she said. The UCC also makes a special provision for defence personnel called "privileged will" which can be made both in writing or by word of mouth.

Any soldier or air force personnel engaged in an expedition or actual warfare or a mariner at sea can make a privileged will for which rules have been kept flexible.

Also read: 'Constitutional necessity' | Allahabad HC judge praises UCC at VHP event

UCC cannot be state-specific: Congress

The Congress, however, has remarked that the move by the Dhami government is nothing but “kick-starting a pilot project” without proper consensus.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the uniform civil code cannot be state-specific.

"Can a uniform civil code be state-specific? You talk of the 'uniform' civil code and then make it state-specific," he said.

“This is nothing but an attempt to fast-track the process, to have a pilot project, before you can impose... because you don't have a consensus. So you do it like kick-starting a pilot project," he told reporters on Monday adding that the phrase UCC itself means there has to be uniformity in implementing it.

“How can different states have a different UCC?” he asked.