Law Commission issues notice seeking views of public, religious bodies on Uniform Civil Code

Stakeholders asked to send in their views within 30 days. This is the second time the commission has taken such an initiative in 7 years.

Law Commission of India chairperson Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi (retd) with other members | ANI

New Delhi: The Law Commission of India (LCI) Wednesday issued a public notice to solicit views and opinions on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). According to the notice, the “public at large” and “recognised religious organisations” can send their views about the UCC within 30 days. Submissions can also be made in the form of consultations/discussions or working papers on any of the issues pertaining to the code.

“If need be, the commission may call upon any individual or organisation for a personal hearing or discussion,” read the notice issued by the 22nd Law Commission of India headed by Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi (retd).

The UCC, a directive principle under the Constitution, is meant to be a single set of personal laws that would apply to all citizens equally.

Introducing the UCC has been a long-standing agenda of the BJP and its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS has always maintained that it is needed in order to foster an “inclusive India”.

Two BJP-ruled states — Gujarat and Uttarakhand — have already formed respective committees to look into the implementation of the UCC. The Assam government has also shown commitment to implement it, and the BJP had promised to implement UCC in its election manifesto for Karnataka.

This is the second time the Law Commission has invited the opinion of “stakeholders” on the UCC. The body had taken up the matter on the basis of a reference sent to it in 2016 by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.

Initially, the 21st Law Commission had issued an “appeal” along with a questionnaire in October 2016. Three more public notices were issued in 2018 — twice in March and once in April. According to the Wednesday notice, the commission had then received “overwhelming responses”, following which a consultation paper on ‘Reforms of Family Law’ was released in August 2018.

‘Absence of consensus’ on UCC

In the 2018 consultation paper, the Law Commission, then headed by Justice B. S. Chauhan, had opined that the formulation of UCC is neither “necessary nor desirable at this stage”. Observing that there’s “absence of consensus” on the Uniform Civil Code, the consultation paper had underlined the need to eradicate discrimination.

The paper had said: “Most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference, and the mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination, but is indicative of a robust democracy”. It had, however, recommended a universal age of consent for marriage. No report on the UCC was submitted to the government.

“Since more than three years have been lapsed from the date of issuance of the said consultation paper, bearing in mind the relevance and importance of the subject and also the various court orders on the subject, the 22nd Law Commission of India considered it expedient to deliberate afresh over the subject,” read the latest public notice.

The notice comes close to the heels of Justice Awasthi holding a meeting with Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, who heads a committee preparing a draft on the code for Uttarakhand.

Soon after the meeting, Justice Desai told reporters that it was a courtesy call on behalf of the commission’s chairman, who also wanted to get “some ideas” on what work her panel has done. In response to a query on whether the Uttarakhand UCC committee can be replicated at the national level, Justice Desai had said: “It’s our wish that it will be good if other states also follow.”

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)