Bhopal

A day after the High-Level Committee constituted for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) submitted its final report to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, the Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday announced that the UCC draft would be tabled in the next cabinet meeting for approval.

Cabinet minister Chetanya Kumar Kashyap made the announcement while briefing reporters after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yadav held at Mantralay in the state capital Bhopal here. The committee has recommended keeping Scheduled Tribes outside the ambit of the proposed Uniform Civil Code.

He said that the draft UCC bill will be tabled in the state assembly during the Monsoon Session beginning next week after getting approval of the Cabinet in a special meeting in Jadishpur in Bhopal on July 18. The five-day Monsoon Session of the state assembly will be held from July 20.

"The Chief Minister informed the Cabinet that the committee constituted for the Uniform Civil Code has submitted its complete report to him. The report has been prepared after consultations with stakeholders across the state whose interests may be affected, and after studying the laws enacted in other states and the experiences of their implementation. The Chief Minister is committed to introducing the Bill in the Assembly and implementing it in Madhya Pradesh at the earliest. A special Cabinet meeting will be held in Jagdishpur on July 18, where the UCC draft will be granted approval by the Council of Ministers. Thereafter, it will be introduced in the State Legislative Assembly. The Monsoon session will begin from July 20 to July 24," Kashyap said.

According to an official release, the High-Level Committee constituted to prepare the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) submitted its final report to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday after completing the exercise within the stipulated timeline.

The report submitted to the Chief Minister has been compiled in three volumes. The first volume contains the Committee's recommendations. Based on an analysis of international, national and state laws and prevailing practices, the Committee has presented its recommendations in 10 chapters.

The second volume contains the draft Bill proposed by the Committee. The draft legislation has been prepared in accordance with the laws and rules currently in force in Madhya Pradesh. The proposed Bill has 404 Sections and seven Schedules.

The third volume contains the public consultation report, detailing the extensive consultations conducted by the Committee at the district and state levels, as well as through its dedicated website. The Committee received more than 9.58 lakh public responses, and the volume includes a detailed analysis of the feedback by questionnaire, gender and community.

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The committee has recommended keeping Scheduled Tribes outside the ambit of the proposed Uniform Civil Code. The committee was tasked with studying the existing legal framework governing various personal and family matters, including marriage, divorce, maintenance, succession, adoption and live-in relationships, while taking into account the social, cultural and economic conditions of Madhya Pradesh.