Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, announced that the government has decided to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. “The state cabinet unanimously approved that a committee (of experts) will be constituted at the earliest and UCC will be implemented in the state. This will be the first state to do so,” Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said.
This is arguably the first major announcement by Dhami after being reelected as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Implementation of UCC was one of the poll promises made by the BJP in the run-up to the Uttarakhand elections 2022.
Welcoming the move, RP Singh, national spokesperson, BJP said that ‘law must be equal for all the citizens’. “Uniform Civil Code to be implemented in Uttarakhand. CM Pushkar Singh Dhami keeps his promise,” Singh said in a tweet.
Quite contrary to Dhami’s claims, however, Uttarakhand may not be the first state to implement the Uniform Civil Code as Goa, another BJP ruled state is currently the only state in India to have implemented UCC.
“Goa has what Constitutional framers envisaged for India — a Uniform Civil Code.. And I have had the great privilege of administering justice under that Code. It applies in marriage and succession, governing all Goans irrespective of religious affiliation. I have heard a lot of academic talk about the Uniform Civil Code. I would request all those intellectuals to simply come here and learn the administration of justice to know what it turns out to be,” then Chief Justice of India SA Bobde had said last year.
