 "Pushkar Singh Dhami")
A government-appointed panel to prepare a draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on Friday submitted a voluminous document to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who said the "long-awaited moment has arrived".
The draft will be examined, studied and discussed before it is tabled in the assembly, he said.
A special four-day session of the assembly has already been convened from February 5-8 to pass a legislation on the UCC.
The draft in four volumes containing 740 pages was handed over to Dhami by the five-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.
All the panel members came to the chief minister's residence to submit the draft. Apart from Desai, other members of the panel are retired chief justice of Sikkim High Court Pramod Kohli, social activist Manu Gaur, former Uttarakhand chief secretary Shatrughan Singh and Vice Chancellor of Doon University Surekha Dangwal.
On receiving the draft, Dhami said, "It is yet another step towards the fulfilment of a commitment made to the people of the state before the assembly polls of 2022."
Dhami also released a music video titled "Aa Raha Hai UCC" (UCC is coming). The title song has been written and sung by Bhupendra Baseda and its tune composed by Rakesh Bhatt.
After getting a mandate for a second consecutive term in office, his cabinet at its very first meeting decided to constitute the committee.
"The panel, which consists of erudite people, held a comprehensive dialogue with people representing different sections of the society, including the tribal people of the country's first village of Mana, before finalising the draft," he said.
Mana is located in Chamoli district near the India-China border.
"The long-awaited moment has arrived. The draft of UCC has now been submitted to us. We will examine, study and discuss it before tabling it in the state assembly to move in the direction of making it an act during its forthcoming session," Dhami said.
A meeting of the state cabinet has been convened on Saturday to discuss the draft.
"The auspicious phase for all good works to be done has begun with the sun god moving northwards. The consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya has taken place, the interim budget has been presented in Parliament and the draft of UCC has also been received," the chief minister said.
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.
If implemented, Uttarakhand will become the first state in the country after Independence to adopt the UCC. It has been operational in Goa since the days of the Portugese rule.
The panel was constituted for six months initially and was given four extensions to look into all aspects before finalising its report.
It received 2.33 lakh written suggestions and held more than 60 meetings in which the members interacted with around 60,000 people.
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