New Delhi: In a massive jolt to the anti-India lobby, the Supreme Court on January 9 refused to admit a plea against formation of committees to examine the issue of Uniform Civil Code formed by states like Gujarat and Uttarakhand.
The Supreme Court wondered as to why would someone object to formation of a committee for UCC.
“What is wrong with it? They have only constituted a committee under their executive powers. Article 162 of the constitution gives that power to the legislature. Look at entry 5 of concurrent list,” SC Bench led by CJI Chandrachud said rejecting the petition.
One Anoop Baranwal had filed the petition in the court. The bench added that the petition is devoid of merit. No one can challenge the constitution of such committees. Therefore, one can not say that such committees are ultra vires before courts.
Shot in arm for BJP
This verdict gives a major push for the Narendra Modi government at the centre to go ahead with UCC. It has been one of its poll manifesto promises.
In last November, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had emphasised this. He had said that the BJP was committed to bring UCC. BJP will do this after concluding all democratic debates and discussions. In fact, UCC is BJP’s promise to the people of this country, right from the Jan Sangh days, Shah said.
“Not only BJP, the Constituent Assembly had also advised the Parliament and states to bring UCC at an opportune time. It is because for any secular country, laws should not be on the basis of religion.
“If a nation and state are secular, how can laws be based on religion? For every believer, there should be one law passed by the Parliament or the state Assemblies,” Shah said at the Times Now Summit.
Centre’s opposition to plea
The central government has opposed a petition filed by BJP spokesperson and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay before the Supreme Court, seeking uniform grounds and procedure for divorce and uniform procedure for adoption and guardianship for all communities across the country.
Muslim women had also filed petitions favouring UCC. Muslim women are aggrieved most by the discriminatory forms of divorces as per Islamic theology. The Maulavis have been opposing UCC constantly.
Petition for UCC
The petitioners had filed the petition in 2020 seeking uniform laws, which means that all people, irrespective of the region or religion they belong to, will be under one set of civil laws.
These laws include the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Indian Christian Marriages Act, Indian Divorce Act, Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act. Currently, different religions have different personal laws.
The states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam and Karnataka have either formed such committees or are planning to do so.