New Delhi: The Centre had claimed in its affidavit to the Supreme Court on the Uniform Civil Code subject last year that the fact that citizens of different religions and denominations obey different property and marriage laws was "an affront to the nation's unity."
On Wednesday, the Law Commission started a new consultation process on Uniform Civil Code (UCC), asking for input from various groups, such as the general public and official religious institutions, on the contentious issue.
Affidavit filed by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on October 13, 2022 in response to a petition filed by Ashwini Kumar Udadhyay seeking uniform guidelines for 'adoption and guardianship' for all citizens, states that Article 44 (UCC) is to strengthen the object of "Secular Democratic Republic" as enshrined in the preamble of the Constitution. Article 44 of the Constitution mandates that the government make every effort to ensure that all Indian citizens have access to a UCC anywhere in the country. This provision is found in the Directive Principle of State Policy.—Inputs from Agencies