By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 15 Sep: Sarvatra Seva Foundation organised a talk on the topic, ‘One Country-One Law’, at the Town Hall auditorium here today. Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court and a well-known nationalist Ashwini Upadhyay was the keynote speaker on the occasion. He underlined the relevance of uniform legal provisions for all the citizens of the country and said that it is necessary to promote unity and equality in the country.
Upadhyay reminded the audience that the idea of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who had stated that for the sovereignty, unity, integrity of the country, the policy of one country, one flag and one head is needed, is fully justified and relevant under present circumstances. He added that the abrogation of Article 370 and bringing up a Uniform Civil Code is a necessary step in this direction. He also reminded that as per the Article 14 of the constitution, all the citizens of the country are equal and that the Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, language, region and place of birth, while Article 16 provides equal opportunities to all. He also added Article 19 gives the right to study, live, settle, work anywhere in the country and Article 21 gives everyone the right to live a life with dignity.
Upadhyay asserted that, while Article 25 gives the right to all to follow the religion of their choice, but it is not intended to promote following of the bad rituals and customs or practices of any religion. He also claimed that a uniform civil code does not amount to interference in the fundamental religious rights guaranteed under Article 25 such as offering worship, namaz or prayer, keeping fasts or Roza and managing temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras or opening religious schools, propagating religious education or adopting any method of marriage-nikah or adopting any method for last rites after death.
Upadhyay also claimed that due to the implementation of different personal laws for different religions, a separatist and fundamentalist mentality in the country is on the rise and the society is unable to move forward at a rapid pace towards the creation of an undivided nation. Like the Indian Penal Code, the dream of “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” will be realised by the implementation of a comprehensive inclusive and integrated Indian Civil Code at the national level for all citizens.
Upadhyay also expressed concern over the unlimited powers given to the Waqf Board for the management of properties in India whereas there is no provision under any law to protect the Hindu and non-Islamic community from their private and religious properties from being included in the Waqf list issued by the government or the Waqf Board. He emphasised on the need for reforms in the Waqf Act to do away with the lack of transparency in management of Waqf properties. He shared that there are about 3 lakhs Waqf properties registered across the country, which involve about 4 lakh acres of land making the Waqf the third largest landowner in the country after the Railways and Defence. He also lamented the fact that Section 40 of the Waqf Act 1995 gives the Waqf Board the special right to investigate whether any property is a Waqf property or not. If the Waqf Board believes that the property of a trust or society is a Waqf property, then the Board can issue a show cause notice to that trust and society as to why that property should not be registered as a Waqf property and the Board’s decision in this regard will be final and that decision can only be challenged in the Waqf Tribunal. In this way, the property of the trust and society depends on the will of the Waqf Board.
Justice Lokpal Singh, Chief Standing Counsel Chandrashekhar Singh Rawat, Dr Rajesh Bahuguna, Dr Parul Dixit, Senior Advocate TS Bindra, Sarvatra Seva Foundation President Akhand Pratap Singh, Secretary Vishnu Bhatt, Treasurer Shubhangi Goyal, Advocate Baldev Parashar, Shankar Pant and a large number of social workers and dignitaries were present as special guests at the meeting.
