Work by Uniform Civil Code panel almost complete, will get draft soon, says Uttarakhand CM Dhami

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Saturday that the committee preparing the draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the State has almost completed its work and will soon deliver the draft.
"The UCC committee has almost completed its work. We will be getting the draft soon. The draft is being typed right now. Earlier, it was in English, and now it is being typed in Hindi as well. Different volumes are also being made," said Dhami while addressing a farmers' function organised at the chief minister's residence.
Dhami had on Friday said that the tenure of the expert committee preparing the draft of the UCC for the state had been extended by another 15 days.
"The UCC committee has almost completed its task. A little more time is needed to compile it and complete some other formalities, so the time-period has been extended by 15 days. We are going to get the draft soon. As soon as we get it, we will take further steps and convene an assembly session," Dhami said.
The tenure of the committee headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai was extended three times earlier, with the latest extension of four months in September last year.
A statement by the Chief Minister's office on September 23, 2023 said, "The Uttarakhand government has extended the tenure of the expert committee for the Uniform Civil Code by four months."
The panel was constituted on May 27, 2022, and it is the fourth time an extension has been given to the committee. After receiving public suggestions, the committee has done the work of preparing a draft, but the report has not been submitted to the government yet, the statement added.
The UCC was promised to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls in Uttarakhand.
Article 44 of the Constitution of India says that the state shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) throughout the territory of India. The UCC proposes a common set of laws dealing with marriage, inheritance, adoption, and other matters.
The UCC, which had been a hot topic that had polarised opinions over the last four years, hit the forefront in June last year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong case for the implementation of uniform legislation in an address in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal.
PM Modi said the country cannot run on two laws and that the Uniform Civil Code was in keeping with the founding principles and ideals of the Constitution.
"Today, people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights...Supreme Court has also asked to implement the UCC. These (opposition) people are playing vote bank politics," PM Modi had said in Bhopal.