Maharashtra has constituted a seven-member panel under retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai to prepare draft legislation to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), or a common set of laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession for all.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the panel will submit its report within six months. “Based on its recommendations, the government is planning to introduce a bill on the UCC during the winter session of the state legislature,” he told the state assembly on Wednesday.
Maharashtra is the latest in a series of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states to constitute panels under Justice (retd) Desai for the implementation of UCC.
Last month, Rajasthan initiated the process for UCC, becoming the fifth BJP-ruled state to do so over the last two years. In February 2024, Uttarakhand became the first state to pass a UCC law. Two more BJP-ruled states, Gujarat and Assam, followed suit this year.
BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh has also set up a committee to draft the UCC and plans to table a bill this month. Tribals have been excluded from the purview of common frameworks governing personal matters under the UCC in all these states.
The Constitution’s Article 44, one of the directive principles of state policy, advocates for a UCC, a contentious and polarising issue. But respective religion-based civil codes have governed personal matters since independence.
{{/usCountry}}The Constitution’s Article 44, one of the directive principles of state policy, advocates for a UCC, a contentious and polarising issue. But respective religion-based civil codes have governed personal matters since independence.
{{/usCountry}}A pan-India UCC is the BJP’s third unfulfilled ideological promise. The construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status under the Constitution’s Article 370, the other two major ideological goals, have been achieved since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
The Maharashtra UCC panel will include retired Bombay high court judges RC Chavan and SG Mehare, former chief secretary DK Jain, ex-advocate general Birendra Saraf, constitutional expert Ramesh Patange, and activist Suvarna Rawal. Fadnavis said the panel will examine the legal, administrative, and social aspects of implementing a UCC and submit its recommendations.