Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday tabled the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill in state assembly amid slogans of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Shri Ram'. In a symbolic gesture, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh entered the assembly with an original copy of the Constitution.
The Uttarakhand government, led by CM Dhami, cleared the UCC bill with the aim of establishing a common set of personal laws for all citizens, regardless of their religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
If the bill is passed and the law gets implemented, Uttarakhand will become the first state in the country after Independence to adopt the UCC.
What is UCC
UCC or Uniform Civil Code refers to a common set of laws that are applicable to all the citizens of India and is not based on religion in dealing with marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption, among other personal matters.
Before the bill was tabled, there were protests inside the House by opposition members who said they were not given time to study its provisions. "It seems the government wants to pass the bill without a debate in violation of the legislative traditions," Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya said.
Slogans were also raised by the opposition members who were pacified after Speaker Ritu Khanduri assured them that they would get enough time to study the bill.
Possible recommendations in Bill
The possible recommendations in the bill likely could be ban on polygamy, provision for live-in couples to register their relationship, everyone will get adoption rights and equal inheritance rights for both the son and daughter.
Push for UCC in the country
In June last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a big push for a UCC and said the country couldn't run on two laws.
Uttarakhand CM Dhami reportedly said the UCC will be "for the good of all sections" and there is no need to worry as he urged members of other parties to debate the bill in the House in a positive manner.
Congress protests
On Monday, Opposition Congress MLAs walked out of a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of Uttarakhand Assembly in protest against its decision to waive the Question Hour in the special assembly session to table a bill on the UCC.
Congress delegation led by Leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Yashpal Arya met the governor and handed over a memorandum letter signed by all 19 Congress MLAs, including him, to register their protest and sought his intervention in the matter.
Congress has said waiving the Question Hour and not taking up matters of urgent public interest is a violation of the rules of conducting House business and shows the government's total disregard for constitutional and parliamentary norms.
