DAYA SAGAR
As per the Public Notice of date 14th June, 2023 issued by the 22nd Law Commission of India (Uniform Civil Code (UCC)- Reg.) in terms of a reference dated 17th June, 2016 of the Ministry of Law & Justice , the Commission is still examining the subject matter of Uniform Civil Code although the 21st Law Commission of India had examined the subject and had even solicited the views of all the stakeholders through appeals along with questionnaires dated 07.10.2016, dated 19.03.2018, 27.03.2018 & 10.4.2018 where overwhelming responses have been received and The 21stLaw Commission of India ( LCI) had issued the consultation paper on “Reforms of Family Law” on 31.08.2018 but since “more than three years” have been lapsed from the date of issuance of the said Consultation Paper, bearing in mind the relevance& importance of the subject and also the various Court orders on the subject, the 22nd Law Commission of India (LCI) has considered it expedient to deliberate afresh over the subject. The present Law Commission ( 22nd ) has hence through Public Notice dated 14th June, 2023 again solicited the views& ideas of the public at large and recognized religious organizations ( who may be willing ) about the Uniform Civil Code with in 30 days from 14 June 2023 so as to reach Member Secretary LCI (Commission of India, 4th Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Market, New Delhi- 110 003 –membersecretary-lci@gov.in ) in the form of consultation/ discussion/ working papers on any of the issuespertaining to the Uniform Civil Code.
Contents of the public notice issued by LCI do reflect that the Commission is “very serious” about the subject, particularly seeing into the text of the notice where it says “If need be, Commission may call upon any individual organization for a personal hearing or discussion.”
Before one take / initiate to make suggestions / observations some of the references made in the public notice surely call for careful & intimate deliberations / spade work keeping in view that during the process that was initiated by 21st Law Commission in 2016 to 2018 (A) 21st LC had though received overwhelming responses had not prepared any draft /sketch document on Uniform Civil Code but had only issued a “consultation paper” on “Reforms of Family Law”, (B) The present Law Commission has not carried further on the said “consultation paper” as reference which is said to have been drawn on the basis of ‘overwhelming’ response from state holders and hence bearing in mind the relevance and importance of the subject the 22nd Law Commission of India has considered it expedient to deliberate afresh over the subject and (C) ‘More than three years’ ( it is about 5 years ) have lapsed from the date of 21st Law Commission consultation Paper that remained unconsidered and present commission has considered to deliberate a fresh.
So, it becomes very pertinent and meaningful to request the 22nd Law Commission to (i) kindly also confirm that the ‘consultation paper’ prepared in 2018 though was titled as “Reforms of Family Law” but was intended as Uniform Civil Code document (UCC Doc) , and if so that should also be provided to those intending to participate in the exercise can save upon some time & efforts in sketching and drawing the requirements since the issue is already very old and time available for submitting proposals is limited (ii) ofcourse the issue of UCC which has remained in discussions / debates for decades has been surely ‘unduly’ delayed for settlement looking at the manner it has been projected as an subject of utmost national interests, has even been referred as an issue of national priority even by the Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar on 04-07-2023 who has been quoted as having said ” The underlying sublimity of this has to be appreciated and understood as this will bind the nation more effectively. If there is further delay in UCC implementation, it will be corrosive to our values,” while addressing the 25th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.
To be brief there is no doubt that the present calls in Bharat for Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the past and present are focussed at replacing any personal / community / ‘family’ laws based on individual religions/ customs/ traditions with one ‘common composite civilian code’ for one & all citizens of India irrespective of religion//region/caste/sect/gender particularly in relation to marriage/ inheritance/ adoption/ succession etc.
(The author is a Sr Journalist & analyst of J&K Affairs. dayasagr45@yahoo.com).