‘Uniform civil code not necessary now’

NEW DELHI: The law commission has said a “uniform civil code is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”, advocating instead a range of piecemeal reforms in family laws of all faiths to make them non-discriminatory, especially from a gender point of view.

In a key paper made public Friday, the commission broadly took the stance that personal laws, which govern matters such as marriage, adoption and inheritance, need not be made uniform or eliminated, but must be reformed to root out conflicts with the Constitution.

“In the absence of any consensus on a uniform civil code, the Commission felt that the best way forward may be to preserve the diversity of personal laws but at the same time ensure that personal laws do not contradict fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India,” the law panel said. The law panel’s paper came on the back of a reference made to it by the law ministry on June 17, 2016 to “examine matters in relation to uniform civil code”.

India’s Constitution, under the non-binding Article 44, enjoins the state to “secure” for its citizens a “uniform civil code”. Currently Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Hindus and Jews and certain tribes follow different family and customary laws. In its election manifesto in 2014, the ruling BJP said it stood for a “uniform civil code, drawing upon the best traditions and harmonizing them with the modern times”. To ensure that personal laws don’t conflict with various rights and provisions of the Constitution, these laws must first be “codified to the greatest extent possible”, the commission said. All inequalities should be removed by bringing amendments, the report adds.