Mumbai, Sep 25 (PTI) Retired IAS officer of the Uttarakhand cadre, Shatrughna Singh, has been appointed as a member of the Maharashtra government’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) committee close on the heels of the resignation of a former Bombay High Court judge from the panel.
In July this year, the state government set up a seven-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai to draft a framework for implementing the UCC, which seeks to establish equal laws across religions on issues about marriage, divorce, and property.
Former Bombay High Court judge Justice R C Chavan recently resigned from the panel citing serious reservations over its decision to restrict public feedback on crucial social issues to a “Yes/No” format.
Talking to PTI, a senior official said that panel chairperson Justice Desai suggested Singh’s name, which the government has approved.
The official, however, said that Singh’s appointment had nothing to do with the resignation of Chavan as member of the panel.
“Justice Desai knows Singh well as both have worked together earlier. She suggested his name and the government has approved,” the official added.
In his letter to the UCC committee head, Justice Chavan (retd) criticised the panel’s approach, stating that reducing complex societal questions, such as delayed marriages, perversions, infertility, and rising matrimonial disputes, to binary options undermined the primary purpose of consensus-building.
In the letter, he said that while one of the agenda items in the committee meeting was to finalise the questionnaire, the chairperson had already circulated the questions finalised by her and stated the questionnaire would be uploaded once the website was functioning.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the committee’s constitution on July 9.
The committee has been given a six-month timeframe to examine the legal, social, cultural, and administrative aspects of the UCC, study the experiences of other states (like Uttarakhand, which implemented it earlier), and submit a comprehensive report.
The other members of the panel are former high court judge S G Mehare, Maharashtra ex-chief secretary D K Jain, former advocate general Virendra Saraf, constitutional expert Ramesh Patange and educationist Suvarna Rawal.
Last week, Fadnavis said the state government would implement the UCC once the committee preparing the draft submits its report.
The panel is working on the recommendations, and the government aims to table the legislation during the winter session of the state assembly in Nagpur, he added.
On September 13, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he was confident that BJP-led NDA governments in 21 states will introduce UCC before 2029.
The next Lok Sabha polls are due in 2029.
Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to implement UCC. Gujarat, Assam and Madhya Pradesh assemblies have also passed UCC bills. PTI MR NP
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