Clear air over Uniform Civil Code, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted three weeks time to the government to come up with a proposal to amend the Divorce Act and inform it whether it was willing to bring the Uniform Civil Code in the country.

 

“We have requested the Solicitor General, who is present in Court, to look into the matter. He prays for three weeks’ time. List after three weeks,” a bench of Justices Vikramjit Sen and Shiva Kirti Singh said.

 

“There is total confusion we should work on the Uniform Civil Code. What happened to it? If you (government) want to do it, then you should do it. Why don’t you frame and implement it,” the bench observed.

 

The court in July had asked the Ministry of Law and Justice to file its reply and decide on the issue of amendment of sub Section (1) of Section 10A of the Divorce Act.

 

The apex court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by a Delhi-based man, challenging the legal provision that compels Christian couples to wait for at least two years for divorce, whereas this period of separation is one year for other religions.

 

Albert Anthony has challenged the validity of Section 10A (1) of the Divorce Act, 1869, saying the two-year mandatory period of separation was biased against the Christian community amounting to “hostile discrimination”. The Kerala and Karnataka high courts had declared the provision unconstitutional but Christians living in the other states were being denied benefit of the two judgments, he said.

 

 Meanwhile, Law Mini-ster D.V. Sadananda Gowda said on Tuesday, that a Uniform Civil Code is necessary for national integration but any decision to bring it can be taken only after wider consultations. He said that he would consult the Prime Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and top law officers before government files its affidavit in the apex court.

 

Gowda said “wider consultations” will be held with various personal law boards and other stakeholders.