Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that his government is closely monitoring the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) draft bill being prepared by the Uttarakhand government to see if the same can be implemented in the northeastern state in entirety.
CM Sarma’s reaction comes a few hours after the five-member committee formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttarakhand submitted its draft report to chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in Uttarakhand on Friday.
“We will closely monitor the development of Uttarakhand. If the Uttarakhand Bill is tabled in the state assembly on February 5, we will see if we can implement it entirely. Our assembly session will start on Feb 12, so we have some time,” Sarma told media persons in Guwahati.
Also Read: Uttarakhand: UCC committee submits draft report to CM Dhami
The CM informed that his government is preparing an act to ban polygamy in Assam and the state’s law department is vetting the same.
Earlier this month, Sarma had stated that his government would implement the UCC but will keep the tribal population away from its purview.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier this month, Sarma had stated that his government would implement the UCC but will keep the tribal population away from its purview.
{{/usCountry}}“Uttarakhand and Gujarat will bring UCC first and Assam will follow them with some new additions to those Bills, which will be an Assam model,” Sarma had stated on January 11.
“I am waiting to see the UCC Bill of Uttarakhand and once that is done, we will bring the same legislation, but since we are working against child marriages and polygamy, there will be some innovation to it. In Assam, the tribal community will be exempted from the ambit of UCC,” he added.
Sarma said that if public consultation on a UCC Bill can happen in 2-3 months, it will be introduced soon in Assam assembly adding that if it is a little bit complicated, wider consultations will be needed.
“All will depend on the Uttarakhand and Gujarat Bills, but Assam will be the third state (to implement UCC)”, he had said.