The Nationalist Congress Party today asked the Law Commission to clarify whether the issue of uniform civil code and triple talaq was referred to it by the Supreme Court.
In his response, panel chairman Justice B S Chauhan (retd) said the Law Commission has circulated its questionnaire on uniform civil code, which also has a reference on 'triple talaq', following a reference made to it by the government and its report on the subject will be submitted to the Law Ministry and not the apex court, its chairman B S Chauhan said today.
Following a letter written by him to all recognised national and state parties asking them to respond to the questionnaire, a delegation of NCP met Chauhan seeking clarification on as to whether the issue of a common code and triple talaq was referred to it by the Supreme Court.
NCP is one of the seven parties recognised at the national level by the Election Commission.
"There is a confusion on the issue I was told. I made it clear to the NCP leaders that the Commission has not yet received any reference on triple talaq from the Supreme Court. I said that the issue was referred to the panel by the government and the report, whenever ready, will by submitted to the Law Ministry and not the Supreme Court," Chauhan told PTI.
Out of the 16 questions asked by the law panel, one refers to triple talaq.
Should the practice of triple talaq be abolished, retained or retained with suitable amendments; and whether a uniform civil code should be optional are among 16 queries by the commission.
Seeking to widen its consultation on the contentious issue of uniform civil code, the Law Commission had last month asked all national and state political parties to share their views and plans to invite their representatives for interaction on the subject.
The panel has sent a questionnaire on the subject to the parties and asked them to send their views by November 21.
The Centre' move asking the law panel to examine the issue had assumed significance as the Supreme Court recently said it would prefer a wider debate, in public as well as in court, before taking a decision on the constitutional validity of 'triple talaq', which many complain is abused by Muslim men to arbitrarily divorce their wives.
For the first time in India's constitutional history, the Centre had on October 7 opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds of gender equality and secularism.
The development came after a Muslim woman, who was divorced by her husband through a phone call from Dubai, challenged the Muslim practices of polygamy, triple talaq (talaq-e-bidat) and nikah halala, leading the Supreme Court to seek response from the Centre on her plea.
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