E-Paper
Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand from today: What it proposes for marriages, divorces
Uttarakhand is set to become the first state in India to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Uttarakhand will roll out the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) the state on Monday, making the hill state first in independent India to implement the civil code.
The Dhami government, which won a re-election in March 2022 in Uttarakhand, had promised to bring the UCC if voted to power.
The Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024, will apply to every resident of the state, except members of Scheduled Tribes, and persons whose customary rights are protected under Part XXI (or 21) of the Constitution.
Uttarakhand residents living outside will also come under the UCC.
Here's what it says on marriages:
1. The UCC standardises the legal marriage age for men and women at 21 and 18 years, respectively, and establishes uniform grounds and procedures.
2. It prohibits both polygamy and ‘halala’ across all communities.
3. While marriage rituals can be performed under religious customs or legal provisions, marriages will have to be registered within 60 days.
4. Registration of live-in relationships will be mandatory as well (for protection and legal recognition).
5. Marriages solemnised before March 26, 2010, or outside Uttarakhand, can (not a mandatory requirement) be registered within 180 days of the Act coming into effect.
6. Any soldier, air force personnel engaged in an expedition/actual warfare, or a mariner at sea, can make a ‘privileged will,’ for which rules have been kept flexible.
7. The Uttarakhand UCC establishes a streamlined framework for wills (creation and cancellation) and supplementary documents (known as codicils) under testamentary succession.
Divorce under Uttarakhand UCC
In UCC, the reasons for and grounds for divorce for husband and wife are the same. Therefore, the husband can now divorce, and the wife can also demand divorce on the same basis.
