Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced that the state will implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) within January 2025. “We are celebrating 2025 as the silver jubilee year of Uttarakhand’s statehood. It will be a year of big achievements. We kept our promise of bringing the UCC,” Dhami said on January 1.
According to the government, the UCC sets equal rules for marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession, regardless of religion, but excludes Scheduled Tribes. It also mandates the registration of marriages and live-in relationships.
An expert committee led by former chief secretary Shatrughna Singh submitted its final report in October 2024, and the state government is now training staff for its implementation. Doon University Vice-Chancellor Surekha Dangwal, who helped draft the UCC, called the initiative “a huge exercise.”
“A portal and an app are being created to make the registration process simple and user-friendly. People will be able to register marriages or live-in relationships without visiting government offices,” Dangwal said.
The UCC has been a long-time agenda for the BJP nationally, but Uttarakhand is the first state to take action. “Gender parity across all religions is the spirit of the UCC,” Dangwal added. She said public consultations during the drafting process received overwhelming support, especially from women, with 2.3 lakh suggestions collected.
Supreme Court advocate Ashwini Upadhyay praised the UCC for banning practices like polygamy and Halala. “If a wife cannot have two husbands, how can a husband have more than one wife?” he asked.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also backed the UCC, saying, “Every BJP-ruled state will bring in the UCC like Uttarakhand.”
With preparations in full swing, officials speculate that the UCC could be implemented as early as Republic Day, January 26.
