UCC: Congress moves proposal to refer legislation to a select committee

Opposition legislators said they are not opposing the UCC bill, but its provisions need to be examined in detail so that its flaws could be removed before its passage.

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday resumed the discussion on the Uniform Civil Code bill with the opposition Congress members moving a proposal to refer the legislation to a select committee of the House.

Opposition legislators said they are not opposing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill but its provisions need to be examined in detail so that its flaws could be removed before its passage.

Restarting the debate in the House, Congress MLA from Kichcha, Tilak Raj Behar, said Article 44 of the Constitution which is the basis of the bill talks about the UCC in the context of the whole country and not just one state.

"We are not opposing the bill or its passage, but it should be referred to a select committee of the House before it is passed," he said.

Pointing out a contradiction in the bill, Congress MLA from Jaspur, Adesh Singh Chauhan, said the bill leaves the tribal population out of its ambit but at the same time states that it will apply to the whole of the state.

"If it leaves the tribes of Uttarakhand out of its purview. How can it be said to extend to the whole of the state? Hence, I would propose that the bill be referred to a select committee of the House," Chauhan said.

As per the listed business of the House for the day, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will propose the passage of the bill.