NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and former union minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday demanded that the Rajya Sabha should discuss Law Commission of India's 2018 report on the controversial Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Ramesh also asked the government to share information on any action that was taken on the recommendations of the commission.
The demand assumes importance as the UCC has been a key political issue, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being committed to implement it. In 2016, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had asked the Law Commission to examine whether the UCC can be implemented.
“On 31 August, 2018 the Law Commission released a 185-page consultation paper, which is called reform of family law. It has four chapters – marriage and divorce, custody and guardianship, adoption and maintenance, succession and inheritance. Inevitably, the chapter on marriage and divorce occupies most of the space in this report,” Ramesh said, while raising the matter in the Upper House today.
The Law Commission's report concluded that the UCC was "neither necessary nor desirable" at this stage, Ramesh added.
“The Law Commission then went on to say that the way forward may not be a Uniform Civil Code but codification of all personal laws so that prejudices and stereotypes in every one of them will come to law and could be tested on the anvil of fundamental rights,” Ramesh said.
He also requested Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to allot time to discuss the issue.
“We have been discussing this for years together, we need to discuss this further. Now the Uniform Civil Code, common civil code is being suggested. One has to discuss it. The House, one of the days...we will think about it,” Naidu said while responding to Ramesh.
