Mumbai: A retired Bombay High Court judge has stepped down from Maharashtra’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) drafting committee, saying he was unhappy with how the panel was working and with the role of an official from outside the state.
Former justice RC Chavan sent his resignation on September 19, two days after the committee’s second meeting, and the state government accepted it on Monday.
In his letter to the committee chairperson, retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai, Chavan said the meetings were being finished without proper discussion. He wrote that items such as “confirmation of minutes, website modifications and finalisation of questionnaires were disposed of quickly on the directions of the chairperson.”
Objections To Public Feedback Process
Chavan also objected to the panel’s public feedback process, saying members’ suggestions on questions about late marriages, infertility, unstable marriages and dispute resolution were ignored as the chairperson had already finalised and shared an alternative questionnaire for uploading, as reported by Scroll.in.
Another issue he flagged was the presence of a person who was not a committee member but attended the meeting and suggested changes to the website, after which officials made modifications. Chavan questioned why an outside official was needed, remarking that “Maharashtra officers may feel they are not competent to do this duty that an officer from another State had to be called.”
He added, “It may also be that he did not know as to where to fit the officer in the panel’s functioning.” Explaining his decision to quit, he said, “To solve this problem, I am vacating my seat on the committee by resigning now, so that the government can fill in the blank promptly.”
UCC Panel And National Push
The seven-member panel was set up by the Maharashtra government in July, with Desai as chairperson. She earlier led similar panels that drafted UCCs for Uttarakhand and Gujarat. The other members are former Bombay High Court judge SG Mehare, former state chief secretary DK Jain, former advocate general Virendra Saraf, constitutional expert Ramesh Patange and educationist Suvarna Rawal.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said the committee was expected to submit its report within six months, with the draft legislation to be introduced in the Winter Session of the Assembly.
The UCC seeks a common set of laws on marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens, replacing religion-based personal laws. Uttarakhand became the first state in independent India to implement a UCC, bringing it into force on January 27, 2025, while Goa has had a common civil code since 1867.
Assemblies in Gujarat, Assam and Madhya Pradesh have passed UCC bills, the Rajasthan Cabinet has approved a bill, and West Bengal and Chhattisgarh have formed drafting committees. On September 13, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that BJP and NDA-ruled governments in 21 states would introduce the code before 2029, ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.