Uttarakhand UCC drafting panel's tenure extended by another four months

The panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, was constituted on May 27, 2022. It was to submit a draft UCC to the State government by the end of June this year.

The tenure of the committee to draft a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for Uttarakhand has been extended by four months, according to an official order.

This was the third extension given to the panel whose tenure was to end on September 27. The order extending the committee's tenure by four months was issued by Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi on Friday.

The panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, was constituted on May 27, 2022. It was to submit a draft UCC to the State government by the end of June this year.

A Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand was one of the major poll promises of the BJP in the run-up to the State Assembly elections held last year. After being voted to power for a consecutive term, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami gave his nod to setting up a committee to draft the UCC at the first Cabinet meeting headed by him.

The Uttarakhand government had constituted the committee of experts under retired Supreme Court judge Desai to examine various existing laws regulating personal civil matters of the residents of Uttarakhand and to prepare draft law or laws or suggest changes in existing laws on such subjects as marriage, divorce, property rights, succession, inheritance, adoption, maintenance, custody, and guardianship.

The five-member committee got its first extension of six months in November 2022, and the second of four months in May this year.