Overview
- The state cabinet approved the UCC draft and formed a committee led by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, which the government said on Thursday will have four weeks to review the text and invite public suggestions.
- The draft proposes a single civil framework for marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession and adoption and is reported to include bans on polygamy, gender parity in ancestral property, curbs on child marriage and registration of live-in relationships.
- Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and BJP leaders have signalled a rapid timetable tied to their election promise, with officials saying the final Bill would be drafted after the committee report and tabled in the Assembly in August if cleared.
- The government has said Scheduled Tribes and certain recognised tribal communities will be exempted from the UCC, a carve-out intended to limit disruption and mirror measures used in other states.
- Trinamool Congress leaders have vowed to resist the proposal inside and outside the Assembly and legal experts expect political challenge and judicial review to shape the bill before it can become law.