Challenge was given to form a committee on Uniform Civil Law, Supreme Court rejected the petition

A committee was constituted by the Uttarakhand government to study the Uniform Civil Code. The Gujarat government had also decided to constitute a committee for this. A petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of these two state governments to constitute the committee. Which was rejected by the Supreme Court during the hearing on Monday i.e. 9th January. Hearing a petition challenging the setting up of a committee on the Uniform Civil Code, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the mere constitution of the committee cannot be challenged. Under Article 162 of the Constitution, the states have the right to constitute such a committee. It may be known that the Uttarakhand government constituted an expert committee on May 27, 2022, under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai.

The committee constituted by the Government of Uttarakhand was entrusted with the responsibility of studying and implementing the Uniform Civil Code in the state. Recently, the government extended the tenure of the committee for six more months. This committee can submit its report to the government by May 2023. Like the Uttarakhand government, the Gujarat government had also decided to form a committee.

Anup Barnwal had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the state government to form a committee on the Uniform Civil Code. On which the hearing was heard by the bench of Chief Justice Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha. After the hearing, the CJI said that only the constitution of the committee cannot be challenged. Under Article 162 of the Constitution, the states have the right to constitute such a committee.

It may be noted that Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to decide to set up a committee on Uniform Civil Code. After Uttarakhand, the Gujarat government had taken a decision to form the committee before the assembly elections last year. Before the Gujarat assembly elections on October 29 last year, the state government had decided to form a committee to study the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code. Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi had said that the committee would be constituted before the Model Code of Conduct comes into force.