Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Friday, July 24, said his government will table a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill in the upcoming winter session of the state assembly.
Talking to reporters at the Raipur airport before heading for Bengaluru, Sai said the government was committed to implementing the UCC.
A five-member committee headed by Supreme Court Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai was constituted last month for UCC implementation in Chhattisgarh.
Sai said, “The panel’s first meeting is being held today. We will get the UCC passed in the upcoming winter session of the Assembly.”
Officials said the meeting was held at Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhavan in Nava Raipur Atal Nagar.
The Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly on Tuesday passed a UCC bill with provisions to ban polygamy and make the registration of live-in relationships mandatory, while excluding the tribal community from its scope. A committee headed by Justice Desai drafted the bill.
Asked about the Congress protest outside a police station in Raipur since Thursday evening, demanding registration of an FIR against BJP leaders for allegedly pelting stones during the ruling party’s gherao of its office, Sai said everyone has the democratic right to hold protests.
“However, the Congress has become frustrated after facing repeated electoral defeats. The kind of stone pelting seen in Kashmir has now been resorted to by the Congress. It reflects their frustration. In a democracy, protests should be peaceful and conducted within constitutional limits,” he said.
The CM said he was going to Muddenahalli near Bengaluru to attend the 47th birth anniversary celebrations of spiritual leader Sri Madhusudan Sai at Sathya Sai Grama.
He also noted that the Sri Sathya Sai Trust-run hospital in Raipur has been providing free treatment for heart ailments to children up to age 15.
Besides Desai, the UCC committee includes retired IAS officers Shatrughan Singh and MK Raut, senior advocate Mohan Pawar and former principal Jyoti Rani Singh.
The committee has been tasked with examining the existing legal framework relating to the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code in Chhattisgarh and making recommendations on issues such as marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, adoption and other related matters.
It will also seek suggestions from citizens, social organisations, legal experts and other stakeholders apart from studying UCC-related legal frameworks adopted by other states.
The panel will prepare a draft of the proposed UCC and submit it to the state government along with legislative and administrative recommendations, government officials said.
