Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: January 21, 2022 at 15:34 IST
Firoz Bakht Ahmed, the Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad approached the Supreme Court and sought its directions for the Government to form an Expert Committee in regards with the Uniform Civil Code.
The Petitioner asked for a draft that would be made with consideration of Constitutional Rights and International Conventions that would ensure security of women pertaining to gender equality, justice and dignity of women.
The Petition stated, “The PIL has been filed to weed out anomalies in minimum age of marriage, grounds of divorce, maintenance-alimony, adoption, guardianship, succession, inheritance based patriarchal stereotypes which perpetrate inequality against women and go against global trends.”
The Uniform Civil Code if implemented in India, would mean one Law for the entire country, it would be applicable to everyone belonging to any religious community pertaining to any matter such as marriage, inheritance and adoption.
The Petitioner stated, “When Enacted, the Code will work to simplify Laws that are segregated at present on the basis of religious beliefs like the Hindu. Ide Bill, Shariat law and others. The code will simplify the complex Laws around wedding ceremonies, inheritance, succession, adoptions and making them one for all… Same Civil Law will be applicable to all Citizens irrespective of their faith.”
The Petitioner Firoz Bakht Ahmed also quoted the words of Dr. B R Ambedkar that the Uniform Civil Code is desirable for India but, presently it should be voluntary. Article 44 of the Constitution of India does not make it necessary to implement UCC but only states that State should consider its implementation.
Also read: Is India on its way to One Nation One Law?