Uttarakhand CM Dhami leaves for Delhi from Dehradun on three-day tour

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], July 1 (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday left for a three-day Delhi tour.

Officials said Dhami’s trip to Delhi is significant because the head of the committee on the Uniform Civil Code recently announced that it had prepared a draft of the report on UCC.
“In view of UCC, this visit of the Chief Minister to Delhi is considered very important, because yesterday, retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, the chairman of the committee on UCC, said that the draft of the committee on UCC has been prepared,” said the officials.

Earlier on June 30, the draft of the proposed Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand was complete and the report of the expert Committee along with the draft code printed and submitted to the Government of Uttarakhand.

This announcement was made by the Expert Committee, which was appointed last year to work on the Uniform Civil Code.

The report will go to the state Cabinet and it will decide whether to table it in the state legislature, the committee informed.

Uttarakhand UCC said that all due care has been taken in preparing the draft and the aim is to bring equality and dignity across sections.

Officials stated that they have received a significant response in favour of the UCC, although some opposing views were also expressed. “We have got an overwhelming response in support of UCC, and some views also came against also, stated the panelists.

The committee said that it has painstakingly taken into account all shades of opinions and looked into the various statutes and uncodified laws including the statutory framework in select countries.

The expert panel said that statistical analysis and empirical data were also included in the draft.

It further mentioned that 10 million is the total population of Uttarakhand. We got more than 2.31 lakh in written suggestions. It is a good sample size that has been considered.

Besides the Committee has tried to understand the finer nuances of the various customary practices that prevail in different parts of the State.

The committee stated that it has also interacted with the representatives of political parties, state statutory commissions as well as with leaders of various religious denominations.

Doctors and experts have also been consulted, issues such as the age of marriage, and age of consent issues have been considered. Issues such as Live-in, LGBT, and child marriages all have been discussed.

The Chairperson of the Law Commission of India had requested interaction with the members of the Expert Committee. This interaction was held on June 2, 2023, wherein members as well as chairpersons of both the Law Commission and the Expert Committee were present.

The Uttarakhand government last year had formed a five-member committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to prepare a draft on the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. Chairman ( retired Supreme Court Justice) Ranjana Prakash Desai is a former judge of the Supreme Court.