Uttarakhand sets up expert panel for Uniform Civil Code implementation

Tags: State News

The Uttarakhand government on May 27 constituted a panel of experts, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, to implement the Uniform Civil Code in the state.

• The Uniform Civil Code includes a review of laws governing marriage, divorce, maintenance, succession, adoption and other personal laws.

• The committee will examine all laws and matters relating to personal law in communities and draft a Uniform Civil Code.

• Uttarakhand will be the second state in the country after Goa to do so if the Uniform Civil Code comes into force.

• Name of panel head and its members

1. Retired judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (current head of the Delimitation Commission will chair the committee)

2. Retired judge Justice Pramod Kohli

3. Social worker Manu Gaur (Head Taxpayers Association of Bharat)

4. Retired IAS officer Shatrughan Singh 

5. Surekha Dangwal, Vice Chancellor of Doon University 

• What is Uniform Civil Code?

• Uniform Civil Code means one law for the whole country, which is applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.

• Article 44 of the Constitution talks about securing a Uniform Civil Code for every citizen of the country.

• Article 44 is one of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).

• Article 37 of the Constitution makes it clear that the DPSP "shall not be enforced by any court".

• Article 37 of the Constitution makes it clear that the DPSP "shall not be enforced by any court"but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance.

• The Supreme Court for the first time directed the Parliament to frame a uniform civil code in the year 1985 in Shah Bano case.