The Feasibility, Complications, And Contradictions With India’s Current UCC Framework
- IJLLR Journal
- Dec 26, 2025
- 2 min read
Saksham, Symbiosis Law School, Noida
PREFACE
Uniform Civil Code has been a question since the time of the formation of the Constitution of India. This was added as a Directive principle of state policy under Article 44 of the Constitution by the lawmakers to ensure that once India achieved a level of social well-being and all communities came together, one uniform law could be made to govern everyone, but in a country with 75 hindus, 5 percent christines, 2 percent Sikhs where laws Lex loci the members belonging to one religion have laws based on their own Indigenous law that have been going on for hundreds of years, it would be very difficult to create a law that would be accepteble to all and not contradict with other religions’s customary practices. This especially poses a problem within the muslims, where practices change intra religion, such as the Hanafi school of thought and the Sharia school of thought, having different Consensus ad Idem ages. Law Commission of India in its 185th Index (2002) said that a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Since then, the social and political outlook has changed substantially, and as of 6 February 2024, a Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code had been tabled, which on 7 February 2024, was passed by the Uttarakhand legislative assembly. Post this, many UCC bills have been tabled in many state legislative assemblies and have a very large consensus over their passing. The UCC reinforces the principle of equal citizenship, aligning with our democratic values. Legal scholars such as Granville Austin have discussed the importance of this principle in our constitutional framework. India's social fabric is intricately woven with threads of diversity. Disparate personal laws can sometimes lead to social conflicts. Legal scholars like Upendra Baxi have argued that a UCC can contribute to social harmony by eliminating disparities arising from different personal laws. In a country like India, it is very difficult to maintain the concept of secularism, but the uniform civil code shall provide a streamlined way by which we will be able to unite the country, and no one shall be able to discriminate against another person on the basis of religion. Also, in the cases of State of Bombay vs Narasu Appa Mali and Lily Thomas vs the Union of India, the court was clear that UCC would make India more secular.
