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31 May 2022 Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

Posted at 17:47h in Daily current-affairs by khyati khare 0 Comments

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Recently the Uttarakhand government constituted an expert committee headed by a retired Supreme Court (SC) judge to review all relevant laws governing the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and the personal affairs of the residents of Uttarakhand.
A few months ago, the Allahabad High Court had also asked the central government to initiate the process of implementation of UCC.

Uniform Civil Code provides for uniform law for the whole country as well as uniformity in laws like marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption etc. for all religious communities.
Article 44 of the Constitution states that the State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.
Article 44 is one of the Directive Principles of State Policy mentioned in the Constitution.
Article 37 defines that the provisions relating to the Directive Principles of State Policy cannot be enforced by any court but the principles contained therein shall be of a fundamental nature in the system of governance.

India follows a uniform civil code in most of the civil matters, such as the Indian Contract Act, 1972, Code of Civil Procedure, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, 1882, Partnership Act 1932, Evidence Act 1872 etc.
However in some respects these civil laws are also subject to variation as hundreds of amendments have been made to them by the states.
For example, many states have refused to implement the Motor Vehicles Act, 2019 uniformly.
At present Goa is the only state which has implemented UCC.

The origin of UCC lies in a report submitted in the year 1835 during the British rule.
The report stresses the need for uniformity in the codification of Indian law relating to offences, evidence and contracts, specifically recommending that personal laws of Hindus and Muslims be excluded from such codification.
Increased legislation dealing with personal issues. This prompted the government to codify the Hindu law in the year 1941 with B.N. Rao was forced to form the committee.

N. Based on the recommendations of the Rao Committee, the Hindu Succession Act (1956) was adopted to amend and codify the law relating to intestate or involuntary succession among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.
Although there were separate personal laws for Muslims, Christians and Parsis.

Courts have often said in their judgments that the government should move towards UCC to bring about uniformity.
The decision of Shah Bano case (1985) in this context is well known.
Another case was the Sarala Mudgal case (1995), which deals with the issue of bigamy and conflict between the personal laws on matters of marriage. The Hindu Analysis
In the Shayara Bano case (2017), the Supreme Court declared the practice of triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) unconstitutional.
Arguing that practices like triple talaq and polygamy adversely affect a woman’s right to live with dignity, the Center has questioned whether the constitutional protection given to religious practices should be extended to those which is not in compliance with the Fundamental Rights.

All citizens should be treated equally and rules of government sponsorship/religious places/programmes should be barred in the constitution.
Implementation of UCC will help in reducing religious divide in a country like India where people of different religions live.
Enforcement of UCC will protect weaker sections, simplify laws and ensure gender justice while following the ideals of secularism. The Hindu Analysis
People in India have different religious beliefs. The diverse religious practices enable it to be applied on the basic platform for each religion.
Minorities i.e. Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis have a misconception that UCC will destroy their religious practices and they will be forced to follow the religious practice of the majority.

The most important issue is people’s ignorance about UCC and the reason for such ignorance is lack of education, false news, irrational religious beliefs etc.

Many analysts are of the opinion that Uniform Civil Code is demanded only in the context of communal politics.
A large section of the society sees it as majoritarianism under the guise of social reform.

Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which protects the freedom to profess and propagate any religion, is against the concept of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.