Uniform civil code: Law Commission, ministry to meet Parliamentary standing committee

Having revived the debate on the necessity of a uniform civil code (versus various personal laws of diverse Indian communities, presumably) yet again with less than a year to go for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-ruled central government seems ready to review stakeholders' opinions sent in over the last fortnight.

The parliamentary standing committee on law and personnel has called representatives of the 22nd Law Commission and the law ministry to a meeting on July 3 to discuss a recent notice issued by the law panel, seeking views of stakeholders on the issue of a uniform civil code.

According to the agenda, the standing committee will hear the views of representatives of the law panel and the legal affairs and legislative departments of the law ministry "on [the] public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on 14th June, 2023, inviting views from the various stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code, under the subject ‘Review of Personal Laws’".

Till the evening of 27 June, the law panel had received nearly 8.5 lakh responses to its public notice.

This was the second time the BJP-led government called for views on developing an uniform civil code for the nation. The last Law Commission, the 21st, had reviewed the matter for two years and reported in 2018 that it found such a code was "neither necessary nor desirable".

With inputs from PTI