Before Uttarakhand brought Uniform Civil Code, panel worked to find balance between gender equality and customs

“The state government directed the rule and implementation committee to make the report in 4 volumes to share with the public. Today, we officially want to inform the public that the report in all 4 volumes and the Hindi and English volumes of the Act are being uploaded to our website,” retired IAS officer Shatrughan Singh, who headed the committee, told the media.

Significantly, the Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand 2024 — which received presidential assent in March — seeks to “govern and regulate the laws related to marriage and divorce, successions, live-in relationships, and matters related thereto”.

The report released Friday claims that the committee relied on various materials — including existing statutes at both central and provincial levels, constitutional provisions and commentaries on personal laws, key decisions of the Supreme Court, and reports from the Law Commission of India, including its consultation paper on the UCC — to draft its recommendations.

In addition, it also depended on public feedback and consultation with various stakeholders, including political parties such as the AIMIM, the BJP, the BSP, the CPM, the CPI-ML, SP, and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal.

According to the report, the committee held 72 meetings to draft the code, which it said was a step towards realising “the lofty constitutional goals of creating an egalitarian society and inculcating a sense of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity, as well as a sense of unity, integrity and nationhood among the citizens”.

“This is sought to be done by bringing the personal laws of the different communities under one umbrella and in line with contemporary realities without unnecessarily infringing on the varied religious rites, rituals and ceremonies; the customs and usages that are not against morality and public order are also sought to be protected,” it says.

On the exclusion of tribals from the UCC, the report says that “interactions with the tribal population revealed that an overwhelming majority was in favour of its inclusion”.