Overview
- Maharashtra on Thursday formed a seven‑member expert committee to draft a Uniform Civil Code, naming retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai as chair.
- The panel includes two former Bombay High Court judges, a former chief secretary, a former advocate general, a constitutional expert and an education/social‑work representative.
- The state government says the committee must submit its report within six months and that it intends to introduce a UCC bill in the Nagpur winter session after reviewing recommendations.
- Rajasthan is holding division‑level public consultations without releasing a full draft, and the state Congress has protested that hearings cannot yield informed feedback without the proposed text.
- Recent state UCC exercises have proposed measures such as mandatory registration of marriages and divorces, a ban on polygamy and equal inheritance rights while commonly excluding Scheduled Tribes, a pattern that raises legal questions and could prompt litigation and political mobilization.