Centre Moves On Uniform Civil Code, Keen To Introduce Bill In Monsoon Session Of Parliament — Report

The centre appears to be making strides to fulfill their promise of introducing a uniform civil code (UCC) ahead of the Lok Sabha election next year.

Home Minister Amit Shah presided over a meeting wherein he expressed a desire to present the UCC bill in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament in July, according to sources, as reported by The New Indian Express.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, top officials from various departments, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) joint general secretary Arun Kumar, and others attended the meeting.

The sources said Shah instructed for the bill to be prepared by July.

The BJP may be looking to move on the UCC as they approach assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh in the second half of the year, before heading into the general election in 2024.

The ruling party had promised to implement the UCC through democratic processes and discussions.

Mehta told the Supreme Court last month that the centre supports a UCC and believes that it should be implemented by Parliament, not the courts.

Rijiju previously announced that the Twenty-second Law Commission will explore aspects of the UCC and offer suggestions.

According to the previous Law Commission, a UCC is "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage."

A former member of the Twenty-first Law Commission told The New Indian Express that their working paper on UCC took two and a half years to prepare and requires elaborate consultation with all stakeholders.

Muslim personal laws also need to be codified before drafting laws for the UCC, the former member told the newspaper.

Former Karnataka High Court chief justice Rituraj Awasthi, who led the bench in the hijab ban case, heads the Twenty-second Law Commission.

One of the members of the commission, Justice K T Sankaran, first used the term "love jihad" in 2009 when he was at the Kerala High Court.