"It is a necessity, mandatorily required today": Allahabad HC asks Modi govt to consider Uniform Civil Code

New Delhi, November 19: The Allahabad High Court has backed the need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in India and said that the central government should implement the mandate of Article 44, which says that the "state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a UCC throughout the territory of India".

 

 

"The UCC is a necessity and mandatorily required today.It cannot be made 'purely voluntary' as was observed by B.R. Ambedkar 75 years back, in view of the apprehension and fear expressed by the members of the minority community," the court said.

 

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Hearing a batch of 17 petitions moved by interfaith couples, who had approached the court seeking registration of their marriages and protection from private respondents, the Bench of Justice Suneet Kumar observed that the issue of the UCC, though Constitutional, rakes political overturns whenever raised or debated in the public domain.

 

The High Court Bench called for the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the wake of a multiplicity of marriage and family laws in place. It is the need of the hour that the Parliament comes up with a "single-family code" to protect interfaith couples from being "hounded as criminals", said Justice Suneet Kumar.

 

 

 

"The stage has reached that the Parliament should intervene and examine as to whether the country requires a multiplicity of marriage and registration laws or the parties to a marriage should be brought under the umbrella of single-family code," the court observed.

 

The UCC essentially refers to a common set of laws governing personal matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, and succession for all citizens of the country, irrespective of religion. Currently, different laws regulate these aspects for adherents of different religions and a UCC is meant to do away with these inconsistent personal laws.

 

 

The Bench further stressed that it can't be voluntary in view of the apprehension and fear expressed by the members of the minority community.

 

According to source, the court has also directed the marriage registrar or officer of petitioners' districts to immediately register the marriage of the petitioners without insisting or awaiting approval of the competent district authority with regard to the conversion of faith.

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