UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

• Recently, the Ministry of Law and Justice said in response to a PIL filed in 2019 that the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a directive principle under the Constitution (Article 44), is a matter of public policy and that no direction in this regard can be issued by the Court.
• The Centre has requested the Law Commission of India (21st) to undertake examination of various issues relating to UCC and to make recommendations thereof.

Important points:

• UCC is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
• Article 44 of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
• Article 44 is one of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).
• DPSP as defined in Article 37, are not justiciable (not enforceable by any court) but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance.
• Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters such as Indian Contract Act 1872, Civil Procedure Code, Transfer of Property Act 1882, Partnership Act 1932, Evidence Act, 1872 etc.
• States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and, therefore, in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws.
• Recently, several states refused to be governed by the uniform Motor Vehicles Act, 2019.
• The origin of the UCC dates back to colonial India when the British government submitted its report in 1835 stressing the need for uniformity in the codification of Indian law relating to crimes, evidence, and contracts, specifically recommending that personal laws of Hindus and Muslims be kept outside such codification.
• Increase in legislation dealing with personal issues in the far end of British rule forced the government to form the B N Rau Committee to codify Hindu law in 1941.
• Based on these recommendations, a bill was then adopted in 1956 as the Hindu Succession Act to amend and codify the law relating to intestate or unwilled succession, among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs.

Way Forward

• The government and society will have to work hard to build trust, but more importantly, make common cause with social reformers rather than religious conservatives.
• Rather than an omnibus approach, the government could bring separate aspects such as marriage, adoption, succession and maintenance into a UCC in stages.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT