From today, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), drafted and promoted despite opposition by Uttarakhand state, will be implemented in the state, making it the first state in independent India to adopt a common code for all civilian affairs, including marriage, divorce, and inheritance, while exempting tribal communities.
However, as a state legislation, the code is applicable only in the state, and not across the country despite the argument of the BJP-led sangh parivar that the entire country should have a single civil law. Other states, even if intending to implement uniform civil code, may go for varying provisions in law thereby belying the intent of the word 'uniform'.
It is also an unresolved question as to how issues and cases that arise within the state will be handled by courts in the case of citizens moving to other states. Such questions about jurisdiction in terms of residence of parties also remain unclear.
Claiming that the UCC would bring uniformity to society and ensure equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Sunday that all preparations for implementing the law, including obtaining approval for the rules and training concerned officials, have been completed.
The UCC, which is widely seen as targeting the Muslim community by annulling the Muslim Personal Law based on Sharia, will only apply in Uttarakhand.
"UCC is just an offering made by our state in the great 'yagya' being performed by the Prime Minister to make the country a developed, organised, harmonious and self-reliant nation," he said, reported PTI.
The law's implementation was a major commitment of the BJP in the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls, which saw the party storm to power for a second consecutive term, something never done by any other party in the state since its creation in 2000.
Dhami had even attributed the historic mandate to the party's commitment to passing the UCC.
As soon as Dhami formed the government again in March 2022, the state cabinet, at its very first meeting chaired by him, cleared a proposal for the formation of an expert committee to draft the law.
An expert committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai was constituted on May 27, 2022, to prepare the draft of the UCC.
The panel headed by Desai set the ball rolling on the implementation of UCC by submitting a comprehensive draft in four volumes, prepared after one and a half years of dialogue with different sections of the state's population.
The panel sent the draft to the state government on February 2, 2024, and legislation on it was passed just a few days later by the state assembly on February 7.
It was given the president's assent nearly a month later, paving the way for its implementation.