Uttarakhand's 13-Month UCC Journey: Over Three Dozen Public Meetings Shape Draft On Family Planning, Inheritance, And Equality

The expert panel appointed by the Uttarakhand government to prepare a report on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the hill state has completed the drafting of the document.

This comes after around 13 months of consultations and 38 public meetings that were organised by the five-member expert committee.

Over the course of 13 months since its formation by the Uttarakhand government, the committee received numerous viewpoints, concerns, and suggestions from many individuals.

Although the idea of a uniform civil law was welcomed by some, many individuals requested the panel to ensure that the discussion on the topic remains separate from politics. In certain cases, it was suggested that all communities should be consulted before implementing any such law.

Questions were also raised regarding whether the UCC provisions would contradict Article 25, which guarantees the freedom of conscience, the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion for all citizens, and the potential impact on ongoing legal cases concerning personal laws.

It was suggested that once the draft is prepared, the committee should engage in discussions with diverse stakeholders before submitting the report to the state government.

The panel received around 250,000 suggestions and comments, with around 230,000 being received through handwritten letters, registered post, emails, and submissions on an online portal, The Indian Express reported citing sources.

However, the most meaningful suggestions were obtained through direct public interactions. According to a source quoted by IE, a majority of the written suggestions were one-sided, but the two-way communication in public interactions generated more meaningful suggestions.

The expert panel was allocated an office in Dehradun, where four rooms are filled with letters.

Three to four individuals have been assigned to the task of going through each letter and sorting them into different sections.

Around 70 per cent of the letters expressed support for the UCC, according to the sources quoted in IE report.

Earlier last Friday (30 June), Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, a former judge of the Supreme Court who leads the five-member committee, informed reporters, “It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the drafting of the proposed Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand is now complete. The report of the expert committee, along with the draft, will be printed and submitted to the government of Uttarakhand".

The committee report and a draft of the proposed law are likely to come out by the end of the month.

It is likely that some other states and the Centre will use this as a template to draft their own legislation on the UCC.

On 14 June, the Law Commission of India issued a notice inviting public views on the UCC within 30 days.

The Law Commission also met the Uttarakhand expert panel. Despite the Law Commission being a constitutional body and having higher protocol, they still held a meeting with the Uttarakhand committee to discuss the issues, a source was quoted as saying in the IE report.

The Law Commission launched the portal to invite suggestions on 14 June, which coincided with the last consultation with the Uttarakhand committee, the source added.

Uttarakhand UCC will receive widespread acceptance, according to the sources.

They believe that the focus of the UCC on women and children makes it "very progressive, beyond people's imagination".

The Uttarakhand expert committee has conducted a total of 38 public meetings across the state since its formation on 27 May last year. These meetings aimed to gather views and suggestions from local residents.

Public meetings were held in various locations, including Mana, referred to as the 'First Indian Village' due to its proximity to the Tibetan border, and several other remote villages with limited road access.

The committee held meetings in areas with large Muslim populations, including Kaliyar Sharif, Manglaur, Ramnagar, Haldwani, Kashipur, and Vikas Nagar. The panel met with Hindu religious leaders in Haridwar and spoke to the Hindu Akharas.

Before preparing its report, the committee studied laws on civil matters in other countries. This included countries with a non-religious uniform code, as well as countries where laws were initially based on religion and later amended.

The committee also examined various personal laws, religious laws, and religious customs in India.

Additionally, they reviewed the cases handled by different commissions associated with civil laws.

The committee also invited 10 political parties active in Uttarakhand to share their views and suggestions on the matter.

Seven parties participated, while the Congress, the AAP, and the CPI chose not to attend.

The five members of the committee reportedly sat together 53 times in New Delhi to discuss the issues and prepare the draft.

They took special care to maintain the confidentiality of the draft, leading to the decision not to appoint anyone outside the committee to type it.

During public consultations, family planning and the regulation of live-in relationships reportedly emerged as the two most prominent issues.

Further, many requested that family planning and population control also be included in the UCC.

"People requested that there should be uniformity in the number of children per family,” a source said, adding that this was not a matter concerning any particular religion.

Sources also indicated that numerous individuals suggested the legal recognition of live-in relationships.

The expert panel's report is expected to propose provisions that enable individuals to self-declare their live-in relationships.

The committee also identified contradictions between several laws addressing the same issue, such as adoption, where religious laws differ from the regulations outlined in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2015.

The UCC is anticipated to address and rectify these discrepancies.

Further, there was a widespread demand for equal rights in inheriting property for both daughters and sons.

Additionally, there were also demands for equality regarding children's responsibilities towards their parents.

“None of the laws suggested, or being made, are just for today. These are all for the next 100 years. Today, we have a big young population, but after 25-30 years, the situation will change, we will have more older people. The dependent population will increase in the coming decades and we need to prepare for that,” a source said.