Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Radha Raturi holds meeting for UCC rule-making

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], September 13 (ANI): A review meeting regarding the making of rules of the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code was held here at Bijapur Guest House on Friday under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Radha Raturi and member of the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Committee Shatrughan Singh.

In the meeting, various aspects related to making rules of Uttarakhand UCC were discussed in detail with the cooperation and coordination of the Home, Police, Health, Excise, Minority, Culture, Food and Civil Supplies, Energy, Planning, and Finance Departments, said an official press release.

Chief Secretary Radha Raturi and Uttarakhand UCC member Shatrughan Singh have directed all departments to cooperate and coordinate in finalising the rules to be made for the implementation of UCC, said the release.

UCC members Manu Gaur, Surekha Dangwal, Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar, Special Chief Secretary Amit Sinha, and Principal Secretary Ramesh Kumar Sudhanshu, along with officials of the Home, Police, Health, Excise, Minority, Culture, Food and Civil Supplies, Energy, Planning, and Finance Departments, were present.

The BJP government introduced the UCC Bill during a special session of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly on February 6 this year and it was passed with a comfortable majority a day later, on February 7.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that his government will implement the Uniform Civil Code in the state before November 9 this year.

“Apart from the anti-copying law, the state government has implemented laws like anti-conversion law, anti-riot, etc. With their implementation, today Uttarakhand has been identified across the country as a disciplined state with zero tolerance towards crime. The Uniform Civil Code will be implemented in the state before November 9, 2024,” he said.

The passage of the UCC Bill marked a “historic day” in the history of Uttarakhand, Dhami said. The Uniform Civil Code seeks to establish a set of uniform personal laws that apply to all citizens, regardless of religion, gender, or caste.

This would cover aspects such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, and succession. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too, while delivering his Independence Day address to the nation on August 15, batted for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) stating that India will now have to move towards a secular civil code to free the country from religion-based discrimination.

PM Modi also called for a discussion over the proposed implementation of the Uniform Civil Code across the country and asked people to give their suggestions.