Committee submits UCC Draft to CM
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Feb: The committee formed under the leadership of retired judge Ranjana Prakash Desai to draft the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand submitted the draft to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at a programme organised at the Chief Minister’s official residence here today.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reminded that, before the Legislative Assembly elections 2022, his government had promised the people of Uttarakhand implementation of a Uniform Civil Code in the state as per the resolution of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He added that, adhering to the promise made by his party, his government in its first cabinet meeting immediately after the elections had decided to constitute an expert committee to frame a Uniform Civil Code. On 27 May, 2022, a five-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai was constituted. The other members of the committee were former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court Pramod Kohli, former Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand Shatrughna Singh, Vice Chancellor of Doon University Prof Surekha Dangwal and social worker Manu Gaur.
Two sub-committees were also formed by the committee. The work of one sub-committee was to prepare the draft of the “Code”. The work of the second sub-committee was to invite suggestions from the residents of the state and also to establish a dialogue. The committee started the public dialogue programme from the country’s first village Mana and received suggestions from all sections of people in all the districts of the state. During this period, a total of 43 public interactions were conducted and this was completed with a discussion with migrant Uttarakhandis on 14 June, 2023, in New Delhi.
Dhami added that, along with the launch of a web portal on 8 September, 2022, by the committee to invite suggestions from every section of society for preparing its report, suggestions were also invited from the citizens of the state through SMS and WhatsApp messages. The committee received 2.33 lakh suggestions through various mediums, from around 10 percent of the total number of families from the state. Also, 72 meetings of the committee were held to interact with about 10 thousand people and study about 2.33 lakh suggestions received.
On this occasion, CM Dhami, on behalf of the people of the state and the state government, thanked all the members of the committee and hoped that their contribution would prove to be a milestone not only for the state but the entire country. The Chief Minister said that, after studying and examining this report, the government would prepare a draft bill of the Uniform Civil Code law for the state of Uttarakhand as soon as possible and place the related bill before the upcoming special session of the Legislative Assembly. He also asserted that the government would ensure rapid implementation of the law.
On this occasion, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Secretaries R Meenakshi Sundaram, Vinay Shankar Pandey, Special Secretary Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Uniform Civil Code Member Secretary Ajay Mishra and Director General, Information, Banshidhar Tiwari were also present.
