West Bengal forms committee to review draft UCC Bill

The West Bengal government has constituted a high-level committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai to examine a draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for the State.

A notification issued by the State government said the committee was formed in view of “wide ramifications and voluminous nature of the subject domain of the proposed legislation”.

The notification, dated July 10, stated that the State government had already formulated a Draft Bill titled The Uniform Civil Code, West Bengal, 2026, with a view to putting in place a comprehensive legal framework for all citizens who are residents of the State, “irrespective of religion, faith or community, concerning critical aspects of personal civil matters such as marriage, divorce, intestate succession and testamentary succession”.

Justice Desai (retd.) will chair the committee. Its members include former Meghalaya Governor and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tathagata Roy, Delhi Resident Commissioner Dushyant Nariala, retired IAS officer Shatrughna Singh, Principal Secretary of the Home and Hill Affairs Department Sanghamitra Ghosh, academic Dr Ratna Bhattacharya, former vice-chancellor of Gour Banga University Gopalchandra Misra, advocate Osman Gani Mallick and former executive director of Sambhag Nirmalya Bhattacharyya.

The BJP leadership had promised the implementation of UCC in the State during its campaign for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had on June 29 informed the West Bengal Legislative Assembly that the UCC would be implemented in the State soon and referred to the setting up of a committee headed by Justice Desai to examine the draft UCC Bill. The State Cabinet approved the constitution of the committee on July 2 and the notification was published on July 10.

Mr. Adhikari said the committee would begin its work and submit its findings soon.

“The UCC has already been implemented in other States. It is one nation, so there should only be one law. There cannot be two sets of laws in one nation,” Mr. Adhikari told media persons at Baruipur.

Mr. Roy said that at this stage, he did not have a clear idea about exactly what steps would be taken. “The implementation framework will be finalised after deliberations within the committee. If it is a Uniform Civil Code, then it should be uniform across the country. Initially, I believed it would be taken by the Centre, but it was later decided that it would be handled at the State level. There may be some differences between States, but I do not believe there will be any major differences,” Mr. Roy told sources.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury criticised the move, alleging that the implementation of the UCC could lead to the violation of the rights of minorities in the country. “Why is the government not making it at the Central level? Why is it being made in different States? This law should be passed keeping in mind people from every section of the country,” Mr. Chowdhury said.