Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday said his government has taken a significant step towards the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code by constituting a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to talk to all stakeholders and prepare a draft of it.
"Keeping with a commitment made on February 12, we passed the proposal for constituting a committee on a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at our very first cabinet meeting after being re-elected to office. We have also taken another step towards its implementation by constituting a panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai," Dhami told reporters here.
"The committee will talk to all the stakeholders before drafting the UCC, which will then be implemented by us," he said. Dhami said Uttarakhand will be the first state after Goa to implement a UCC and other states should also follow its example.
"A border state with a diverse geography like Uttarakhand, where almost every family has someone in the armed forces, deserves to have a Uniform Civil Code," he said.
Replying to a question related to mining, the chief minister said systematic and regulated mining is necessary. "It has been found that no mining has led to the piling up of a huge amount of silt in rivers, which in some cases has changed the course of the rivers, posing the danger of floods to cities situated along the banks. We will think over it. Obsolete and useless mining laws may even be changed," he said.
-With PTI Input
