A draft of the Uniform Civil Code was submitted by the panel appointed by the Uttarakhand government to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami after they documented their findings.
Uttarakhand may become the first Indian state to implement the UCC, post-independence.
Retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai headed the five-member committee to draft the document.
The UCC will provide a legal framework for a uniform marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance laws for all citizens irrespective of their religion in the state.
Speaking to media regarding the submission of the UCC draft, CM Pushkar Dhami said, "Everyone was waiting for the draft. During the 2022 Assembly elections, we had said in our 'sankalp patra', under the leadership of PM Modi, that we will bring UCC in the state. The committee has handed over the draft to us. We will review the draft and work to bring a Bill in this regard during the upcoming state Assembly session."
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Former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat told PTI, "How can we call it a Uniform Civil Code when it’s only limited to one state? Crores of rupees have been spent on this draft but Uttarakhand has received no benefit from it."
The Uttarakhand Assembly has scheduled a unique four-day session from February 5-8 to deliberate and pass a law on the UCC.
The proposed legislation will undergo review during a state Cabinet meeting before being presented as a Bill in the Assembly.
The panel was formed in May 2022 to create a draft for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
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Originally planned for six months, it got four more months to thoroughly examine everything before finishing its report.
During this time, they got 2.33 lakh written suggestions and had 60 meetings, talking to about 60,000 people while working on the draft.
Passing a legislation on the UCC will fulfil a major promise made by the BJP to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls, which saw the saffron party storm to power with a landslide victory for the second consecutive term - a feat achieved for the first time by any political party in the state which came into being in 2000.
UCC has been operational in Goa since the days of the Portugese rule.
