Uniform Civil Code In India: Issues & Challenges

Sudip Saha, Department of Law, University of North Bengal

ABSTRACT

The Uniform Civil Code, is a proposal in India to formulate a single civil code which would be applicable to all citizens equally in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption regardless of their religion, gender and sexual orientation. As India is a land of diversity, personal laws of various communities are governed by their own religious scriptures. The only provision relating to UCC mentioned in the constitution of India in the form of DPSP is Article 44 which is not mandatory in nature. But there is a huge debate about the implementation of UCC. Some argued that it would promote national integration by bringing all the personal laws in one code, others opined it violates the constitutional provisions such as right to religion, cultural and educational rights of minorities, reservation laws, also threat for Hindu Undivided Family, tribal people and religious and linguistic minorities. Moreover, at this moment India is not ready to accept Uniform Civil Code. Muslim community, Naga people, tribal people of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram along with some political parties such as DMK, JDS, MNF, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), Trinamool Congress are continuously opposing the proposal to implement UCC. This article mainly focuses on the historical background of Uniform Civil Code, its development through judicial pronouncement, issues and challenges in implementing Uniform Civil Code in a country like India. Thus, at last the author has made certain recommendations for resolving those issues.

Keywords: Uniform Civil Code, Personal Laws, Secularism, Minority Rights, Reservation Laws, Hindu Undivided Family, Reservation Laws.