Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Act 2024

Topic: Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Act 2024 (Uttarakhand Act No. 3 of 2024) is a state law that gives one common set of rules on marriage, divorce, succession (inheritance) and live-in relationships to everyone it covers, whatever their religion. Only Scheduled Tribes are exempt [5]. It matters because it is the first state uniform civil code after independence. It came into force on 27 January 2025. It is the first real attempt by a state to carry out the goal of Article 44.

Explanation

What a uniform civil code means here

• Uniform civil code (UCC): one common set of laws on family matters for all citizens, whatever their religion.
• Personal law: the family rules that each religious community follows today, such as Hindu law, Muslim personal law (Shariat), Christian law and Parsi law.
• A UCC replaces these separate rules with one shared law.
• Article 44 asks the State to "endeavour" (try) to secure a UCC "throughout the territory of India".
• Art. 44 is a Directive Principle of State Policy (DPSP). This is a goal for the government that no court can enforce (non-justiciable, Art. 37).
• The Uttarakhand Act turns this goal into an actual law, but only for one state.

What the Act covers

• Marriage, divorce and succession: the same rules for everyone it covers.
• Compulsory registration of marriages: this applies to marriages that take place after the Code began [5].
• Compulsory registration of live-in relationships: couples living together without marriage must register.
• Practices it bans:
• polygamy (having more than one spouse at the same time);
• practices such as halala.

Who it does not cover

• Scheduled Tribes are exempt. The Act has a separate provision on how it applies to them [5].
• This means the code is not fully "uniform", even inside Uttarakhand.
• The reason is that tribal customary law gets special protection across India. Examples are Art. 371A (Nagaland), Art. 371G (Mizoram) and the Sixth Schedule (tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram).

How a state was able to make it: steps in order

1. Drafting: a committee headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai prepared the draft.
2. Passed by the state assembly.

3. President's assent on 11 March 2024 [5]. - Family law is a Concurrent List subject (List III, entry 5). This means both Parliament and the states can make laws on it. - Art. 254(2): if a state law on a Concurrent subject clashes with a central law, the state law applies in that state only if the President gives assent. - The Act changes family rules that are also covered by central laws, so it needed this assent.

4. Commencement: the Act came into force on 27 January 2025.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional base:
• Art. 44 (Part IV, DPSP) sets the goal.
• List III, entry 5 of the Seventh Schedule gives the state the power to make the law.

• Art. 254(2) lets it prevail over central law inside Uttarakhand once the President assents.

• Where it fits in history:

• Constituent Assembly, 23 November 1948: Draft Article 35 (today's Art. 44) was adopted without amendment. Ambedkar said a future code could at first apply only to those who chose it (a voluntary code) [4].
• Goa Civil Code: a Portuguese Civil Code of 1867, kept in force after Goa's liberation in 1961. It is older than the Uttarakhand Act, but it was inherited from colonial rule, not made by an Indian state legislature. In Jose Paulo Coutinho v. Maria Luiza Valentina Pereira (2019), the Supreme Court called Goa a "shining example" of a UCC.
• Courts kept urging a UCC: Shah Bano (1985) regretted that Art. 44 was a "dead letter", and Sarla Mudgal (1995) asked the government to frame one. However, Lily Thomas (2000) held that courts cannot issue a writ of mandamus (a court order telling a public authority to do its duty) to make Parliament pass a UCC. So the job falls to legislatures, and Uttarakhand acted.
• 21st Law Commission (2018): said a UCC is "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage". It preferred reforming each personal law. It also suggested compulsory registration of marriage, which the Uttarakhand Act now requires [3].

• 22nd Law Commission (2023): asked the public and religious organisations for their views afresh [2], from 14 June to 28 July 2023 [1].

• Present position (verify current):

• Court challenges to the Act are pending in the Uttarakhand High Court.
• Other states: Gujarat set up a UCC committee, and Assam moved to ban polygamy by law.

Don't confuse with

• Goa Civil Code: Goa's code is older (Portuguese code of 1867), but it was inherited. Uttarakhand's 2024 Act is the first UCC made by a state legislature after independence.
• Article 44 (DPSP): Art. 44 is only a non-justiciable goal for the whole of India. The Uttarakhand Act is an enforceable state law, valid only inside Uttarakhand.
• Special Marriage Act 1954: this is an optional central law for civil marriage between people of any religion, with no need to convert. The Uttarakhand Act is compulsory for everyone it covers, and it also covers divorce, succession and live-ins.
• Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019: this central law deals with only one practice, instant triple talaq (making it void and a cognisable offence). The Uttarakhand Act is a full family code for one state.

Prelims Hooks

• Uttarakhand UCC Act 2024 = Uttarakhand Act No. 3 of 2024. It got the President's assent on 11 March 2024 [5] and has been in force from 27 January 2025.
• Drafting committee head: Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai.
• Exempt group: Scheduled Tribes, not "all religious minorities" or "all residents". This is a common trap [5].
• Compulsory registration: of marriages (those after the Code began) and of live-in relationships. It bans polygamy and halala.
• Constitutional basis: family law is in List III, entry 5. Presidential assent comes under Art. 254(2).
• Trap: "Goa had the first post-independence state UCC" is wrong. Goa's code is a Portuguese code of 1867 that was kept after 1961. Uttarakhand is the first state UCC after independence.

Mains Points

• Federalism and Art. 44:
• The Concurrent List (entry 5) and Art. 254(2) let states like Uttarakhand make their own codes.

• But Art. 44 aims at one code "throughout the territory of India". If many states pass different codes, India could end up with many different "uniform" codes, so family law may become more divided, not less.

• Gender justice vs. religious freedom and diversity:

• For: banning polygamy and halala and requiring marriage registration support equality (Arts. 14–15) and women's rights.
• Against: critics cite freedom of religion (Arts. 25–26) and fear of losing minority identity. The Scheduled Tribe exemption shows that "uniform" is never absolute.

• The 21st Law Commission (2018) preferred to remove discrimination within each personal law first [3].

• Privacy and the live-in registration rule:

• Compulsory registration of live-in relationships raises the same kind of privacy worry as the 30-day public notice under the Special Marriage Act. That notice exposes inter-faith couples to family pressure.
• A better path may be Ambedkar's opt-in idea combined with privacy-friendly procedures. This could win wider consent over time.

Related concepts

• Uniform civil code
• Hindu Code Bill
• Special Marriage Act 1954
• Goa Civil Code
• Shah Bano case
• Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986
• Sarla Mudgal case
• Shayara Bano case
• Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019

Read more

• The uniform civil code