Desai-led 9-member panel to examine Bengal draft UCC bill

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has constituted a nine-member committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai to examine the draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for the state. The panel, which will begin functioning immediately, also includes former Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy, Resident Commissioner Dushyant Nariala and Principal Secretary (Home and Hill Affairs) Sanghamitra Ghosh as member-convenor, among others.

A government notification issued on Friday said the committee was constituted in view of the "wide ramifications and voluminous nature" of the proposed legislation. It said the state government had already prepared a draft Bill, titled The Uniform Civil Code, West Bengal, 2026, and that the panel would undertake a comprehensive examination before any further steps are taken.

"It has been made to appear to the Governor that the State Government has already formulated a Draft Bill... with a view to putting in place a comprehensive legal framework for all citizens who are residents of the state, irrespective of their religion, faith or community, concerning critical aspects of personal civil matters such as marriage, divorce, intestate succession and testamentary succession," the notification said.


The government said the draft Bill seeks to create a common legal framework governing personal civil matters for all residents of the state, irrespective of religion, faith or community.

Other members of the committee include retired IAS officer Shatrughna Singh, academic Dr Ratna Bhattacharya, former Gour Banga University vice-chancellor Gopalchandra Misra, advocate Osman Gani Mallick and former executive director Nirmalya Bhattacharyya.

The committee was constituted following the state cabinet's approval on July 2. On June 29, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had said the panel would submit its recommendations within four weeks, after which the Bill would be introduced. He had also said the proposed legislation would be modelled on the UCC laws enacted in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Assam, while Scheduled Castes and STs would remain outside its ambit.