Uniform Civil Code (UCC) 2024 Bill Tabled in Uttarakhand Assembly

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Once it becomes an act, Uttarakhand will become the first state in the country after independence to adopt UCC.
- After its liberation in 1961, Goa retained the Portuguese Civil Code, making it only state to have a UCC for all religions.

About Uttarakhand’s UCC Bill
- Constitutional Mandate: Article 44 says that State shall endeavour to secure for citizens a uniform civil code throughout territory of India.
- Objective: Bill proposes a common law on marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance for all citizens irrespective of their religion in Uttarakhand.
- Key Features:
  - Provisions of UCC Bill do not apply to tribal communities.
  - Bill aims to regulate live-in relationships.
  - Bill prohibits bigamy or marriages with more than one person etc.

Need for UCC
- Ensuring Equality: Presently different communities are governed by different Personal laws.
- Gender Justice: It will promote gender justice by removing the inbuilt discriminatory provisions of personal laws.
- National Integration: UCC will separate religion from social relations and personal laws, ensuring equality and thus harmony in the society.
  - Also held by Supreme Court in Mohd. Ahmed Khan v Shah Bano Begum (1985) case.

Plurality and diversity: Huge diversified customary practices make it difficult to evolve consensus on UCC.
- In 2018, Law Commission of India opined that UCC is “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage” in the country.
Concerns of Minorities: Fear of loss of identity and marginalization.
Existence of legal pluralism in civil laws.
Indian Secularism: Which is based on diversity of religion and people.