Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad stated in Lok Sabha today that The Government is committed to honour the Constitutional mandate to bring Uniform Civil Code.
He was asked by MP Dushyant Singh whether the Government has plans to introduce bill on Uniform Civil Code this year.
“Article 44 of the Constitution of India states that the state shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India. The Government is committed to honour this Constitutional mandate. However, this requires wide scale consultations.”, the Minister stated in his reply.
The Minister also said that the Government plans to abolish minority status accorded to certain religions under the Uniform Civil Code.
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It is worth noting that the law commission in its consultation paper on ‘Reform of Family Law’ opined that formulation of a Uniform Civil Code is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. “While diversity of Indian culture can and should be celebrated, specific groups, or weaker sections of the society must not be dis-privileged in the process. Resolution of this conflict does not mean abolition of difference. This Commission has therefore dealt with laws that are discriminatory rather than providing a uniform civil code which is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference, and the mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination, but is indicative of a robust democracy.”
Additionally, the Delhi High Court in August 2019 had asked the government to file an affidavit in response to a PIL seeking the constitution of a judicial commission or a high-level expert committee to draft a UCC for securing gender justice, equality and dignity of women.
