SC junks PIL challenging UCC committees in Gujarat, Uttarakhand

The bench also pointed out that “marriage and divorce; infants and minors; adoption; wills, intestacy and succession; joint family and partition; all matters in respect of which parties in judicial proceedings were immediately before the commencement of this Constitution subject to their personal law”, falls under Entry 5 of the concurrent list. Both the Centre and states can make laws on subjects mentioned in the concurrent list, the bench said.

On October 29, 2022, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi announced that the state cabinet had decided to form a committee for the implementation of a UCC in the state.

Earlier in 2022, the Uttarakhand government had constituted a committee of experts “to examine the relevant laws regulating personal civil matters of residents of the state 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”. The committee was to prepare a report on implementing a UCC in the state.

Responding to a PIL in the Supreme Court in October last year, the Centre, while underlining that the Constitution obligates the state to have UCC for citizens and pointing out that citizens belonging to different religions and denominations following different property and matrimonial laws “is an affront to the nation’s unity”, said that the matter would be placed before the 22nd Law Commission.