Uniform Civil Code draft ready to be submitted to govt, says panel head Ranjana Desai

Draft of the proposed Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand is complete and would soon be submitted to the state government, Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai said on Friday.

Desai, who heads the committee of experts set up by the Uttarakhand government last year, said the panel has drafted the code taking into account all shades of opinions and looking into various statutes and uncodified laws, including the statutory framework in select countries.

"It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the drafting of the proposed uniform civil code for Uttarkahnd is now complete," Desai told a press conference here.

"The report of the committee along with the draft code would soon be printed and submitted to the government of Uttarakhand," she added.

The most crucial recommendations it is likely to make are equal property rights for women, including Muslims, raising the marriage age for women to 21, disallowing polygamy and polyandry, uniform child adoption laws across religions, ending coparcenary rights for male heirs in the Hindu joint family and pushing for registration of live-in relationships, reported ET.

The 2005 Supreme Court order allowed Hindu women to have equal claim on parental property as men. This same right is expected to be extended to Muslim women as well. Current Muslim personal laws allow the son to inherit double the share compared to the daughter. A 50% share is now set to be pitched for women across all religions by the state panel.

Only the Hindu personal law allows for legal adoption of a child and vests legal and inheritance rights in the child equivalent to a biological child. People from other religions such as Muslims, Parsis, Jews can adopt/foster under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, as well as the more recent Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

The coparcenary rights (ancestral property rights by birth) given to Hindu males is set to get the axe under the proposed UCC.

The Supreme Court order of 2005 already gives Hindu women equal rights on ancestral and agricultural property. It is felt by the panel that in the spirit of the order, it is only proper to do away with exclusive male coparcenary rights altogether for gender equality.

(With inputs from PTI)