Chhattisgarh to table Uniform Civil Code bill in winter Assembly session
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said on Friday that his government will table a Uniform Civil Code bill in the upcoming winter session of
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said on Friday that his government will table a Uniform Civil Code bill in the upcoming winter session of the state Assembly. Speaking to reporters before leaving for Bengaluru, he said the government was committed to implementing the UCC. His remarks came as the state government’s five-member committee on the UCC, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, held its first meeting. Sai also commented on a Congress protest in Raipur, saying people had the democratic right to hold demonstrations, but they should remain peaceful and within constitutional limits. Read Full Story Sai said, “The panel’s first meeting is being held today. We will get the UCC passed in the upcoming winter session of the Assembly.” The committee was set up last month to examine the existing legal framework for implementing a Uniform Civil Code in Chhattisgarh and to make recommendations on marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, adoption and other related matters.
Officials said the meeting was held at Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhavan in Nava Raipur Atal Nagar. Apart from Desai, the committee includes retired IAS officers Shatrughan Singh and M K Raut, senior advocate Mohan Pawar and former principal Jyoti Rani Singh. The panel will also seek suggestions from citizens, social organisations, legal experts and other stakeholders, and study UCC-related legal frameworks adopted by other states. It will prepare a draft of the proposed UCC and submit it to the state government along with legislative and administrative recommendations, officials said. The Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly on Tuesday passed a UCC bill with provisions to ban polygamy and make the registration of live-in relationships mandatory, while excluding the tribal community from its scope.
A committee headed by Justice Desai drafted the bill. Asked about the Congress protest outside a police station in Raipur since Thursday evening, demanding registration of an FIR against BJP leaders for allegedly pelting stones during the ruling party’s gherao of its office, Sai said everyone had the democratic right to hold protests. “However, the Congress has become frustrated after facing repeated electoral defeats. The kind of stone pelting seen in Kashmir has now been resorted to by the Congress. It reflects their frustration. In a democracy, protests should be peaceful and conducted within constitutional limits,” he said. Sai said he was going to Muddenahalli near Bengaluru to attend the 47th birth anniversary celebrations of spiritual leader Sri Madhusudan Sai at Sathya Sai Grama.
The BriefWire