Ahead of the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand tomorrow, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has fulfilled its promise made in 2022. The implementation of UCC will ensure that there will be no discrimination on the basis of gender, caste, religion in Uttarakhand. During the 2022 assembly election, which we fought under the leadership of PM Modi – we had promised the people of the state that we will work to implement the UCC after forming the government. We have completed all the formalities and the Act (UCC) is now ready to be implemented.
He cited Article 44 of the Constitution, which mentions that the country shall endeavour to secure for the citizens "a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." "Uttarakhand has become the first state to bring UCC – where there will be no discrimination on the basis of gender, caste or religion and we are bringing UCC as mentioned under Article 44 of the Constitution on January 27," Dhami said.
The Uttarakhand government will enact the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Act, 2024, which will establish a streamlined framework for making and cancelling wills and supplementary documents, known as codicil, under will succession. According to the state government, the Act applies to the entire territory of the state of Uttarakhand and is also applicable to the residents of the state residing outside Uttarakhand. The UCC is applicable to all residents of Uttarakhand except Scheduled Tribes and protected authority-empowered persons and communities.
Uttarakhand has become the first state in India to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which aims to simplify and standardise personal laws related to marriage, divorce, succession and inheritance. Under this, only those parties can be married between whom either has no surviving spouse, both are mentally competent to give legal permission, the man should be at least 21 years of age and the woman should have completed 18 years and they are not within the ambit of prohibited relations. Marriage rituals can be performed in any form under religious customs or legal provisions.
But marriages solemnized after the implementation of the Act are required to be registered within 60 days. An official statement issued by the government says that marriages solemnized before March 26, 2010, or outside the state of Uttarakhand, where both parties have been living together since then and meet all the legal eligibility criteria, can be registered within six months of the implementation of the Act (though this is not mandatory). Similarly, the work of acceptance and acknowledgement of marriage registration is also required to be completed promptly. After receiving the application, the sub-registrar has to take an appropriate decision within 15 days.