Centre ready with Uniform Civil Code

New Delhi: The NDA government at the Centre on Friday said that it will move forward to implement the controversial Uniform Civil Code and will kickstart the process of wider consultations for a consensus.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, law minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda made it clear that the code should not be in conflict with Article 25 of the Constitution, which relates to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.

The Uniform Civil Code covers marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance. “I assure the House to move forward on the Uniform Civil Code and it is our duty to implement it... we will move forward as mandated by the Constitution,” Mr Gowda said.

To a question of Congress MP Rajeev Shukla on whether the country is prepared to have such a code, Mr Gowda said the government will initiate wider consultation at the “earliest” to evolve a consensus as it will strengthen the status of women.

Speaking during Question Hour in the Upper House, Mr Gowda said, “The code is based on the assumption that the personal laws based on scriptures and customs of each religion in the country be replaced with a common set governing every citizen.”