Exempting Scheduled Tribes from Uniform Civil Code legislation reflects the tension between legal uniformity and cultural autonomy. Comment.

Article 44 asks the State to "endeavour to secure" a uniform civil code. Yet the Gujarat UCC Act, 2026, which received Presidential assent in September 2026, excludes Scheduled Tribes notified under Article 342 and groups whose customary rights are protected under Part XXI [1]. The exemption is a deliberate trade-off. It protects cultural autonomy but gives up strict uniformity.

Case for exemption: cultural autonomy

• Constitutional protection: the Fifth and Sixth Schedules and Articles 371A (Nagaland) and 371G (Mizoram) protect customary law. Overriding them would invite legal conflict.
• Distinct institutions: clan councils, bride price and community land tenure govern tribal marriage and succession. A code designed for non-tribal society may disrupt them.
• Trust and consent: imposing change without consultation risks alienation in sensitive regions. The 21st Law Commission (2018) preferred reforming each community's law over a single code [2].

Strain on legal uniformity

• Not uniform even within one State: tribal and non-tribal residents of the same district will follow different family laws [1].
• Selective-targeting perception: binding religious minorities while exempting tribes fuels the charge that the code targets communities rather than inequality.
• Gender gaps persist: tribal women stay outside protections such as the bigamy ban [1]. Many customary systems also deny daughters a share in land.
• Patchwork: codes made State by State, each with its own exemptions, weaken the idea of one code "throughout the territory of India".

Reconciling the two

• Read uniformity as equality of rights, not sameness of rules. This follows the 21st Law Commission's focus on specific injustices such as marital property and the child's best interest [2].
• Community-led reform: tribal councils could codify customs with gender-just safeguards. Individuals could also choose to opt into the UCC or the Special Marriage Act.
• Wider consultation, as the 22nd Law Commission did in 2023 [3].

The ST exemption is not a contradiction. It accepts that India's constitutional design favours unity over uniformity. The way forward is gradual, consultative, rights-based convergence, guided by Articles 14, 15 and 21 and SDG 5. That way, cultural autonomy accommodates diversity without becoming a shield for gender injustice.