Bengal govt announces committee headed by retired SC judge to prepare blueprint for UCC

Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Monday announced a major step towards the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state by constituting a new committee headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to recommend a blueprint for the proposed legislation.

The committee, to be headed by former apex court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (retired), will submit its recommendations within the next four weeks, following which the Bill to implement the UCC in the state will be placed on the floor of the West Bengal Assembly, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced while addressing a special session of the House on Monday.

The other members of the committee will include a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, a legal expert, an educationist, a social worker and an Additional Secretary in the General Administration Department of the West Bengal government. The Additional Secretary will act as the secretary of the committee for administrative work.

Initially, it was decided that a Bill on the implementation of the UCC in West Bengal would be tabled on the floor of the House on Monday. However, considering the sensitivity of the matter, the Chief Minister later decided that the legislation would be introduced after considering the recommendations of the proposed high-powered committee headed by Justice Desai (retired).

According to the Chief Minister, the UCC Bill will be tabled in the House in August this year on the basis of the committee’s recommendations.

However, he added that the state’s tribals, indigenous people, Kurmis and other recognised ancient tribal communities will be kept outside the purview of the proposed law. In this regard, the Chief Minister clarified that the exception is being made following the model adopted by Uttarakhand and Gujarat.

Once implemented, West Bengal will be the fourth Indian state, after Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Assam, where the UCC will be applicable.

“The draft of the UCC Bill will be brought for approval by the state Cabinet at a meeting on July 2. The Gujarat Uniform Civil Code Bill, 2026, Assam’s UCC Act and Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code Act, 2024, have been taken as the basis for preparing the Bill. The state government has taken this initiative with the aim of implementing a single law across the state instead of having separate personal laws on the basis of religion. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s election manifesto promised to implement the UCC in West Bengal and the government is determined to fulfil that promise. We are committed and we will implement what we have written in the manifesto,” the Chief Minister added.

IANS