Overview
- State officials issued a notification on Saturday forming a nine-member committee chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai to examine and finalise the draft UCC.
- The committee’s members include a former governor, senior bureaucrats, academics and lawyers who will study the bill in detail and submit recommendations to the government before any legislative move.
- The prepared draft seeks a single legal framework for marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession and adoption for all residents while preserving constitutional exemptions for indigenous communities.
- Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari framed the move as delivery on a BJP election promise and officials say the government hopes to place the bill in the assembly during its August session.
- The panel will review other state models, notably Assam’s, and draw on Justice Desai’s prior UCC work in Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to shape recommendations that could affect family law for millions of people in the state.