Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill to be tabled in Uttarakhand assembly today

DEHRADUN: The four-day special session of the Uttarakhand assembly, aimed at passing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), kicked off on Monday with tributes to legislators who died since the last session of the House. The state cabinet had cleared the UCC draft on Sunday, paving the way for govt to present the bill in the House on Tuesday.

During the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting — called to discuss the business of the House on Tuesday — BJP supported tabling the UCC bill and another bill proposing 10% horizontal reservation for statehood agitators and their dependents. These were presented as the sole agenda for the day.

In protest, leader of opposition Yashpal Arya and six-time Congress MLA Pritam Singh resigned from the BAC, saying the session was a continuation of the winter session, and procedural guidelines should be followed. “Question Hour and Work Adjournment Motion should have been included in the House proceedings for the day,” Singh told TOI when queried why he had resigned.

He added that “all the legislators received a letter from the House on Jan 25 saying that Work Adjournment Motion would be taken up on Feb 6 but this is not happening, which is a violation of rules”. “Govt now only wants to table and discuss the UCC bill. As the ruling side was adamant, Yashpal Arya and I chose to resign as members of the BAC.” Arya and Singh later went to the Raj Bhavan and met governor, Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (retd) to apprise him of their concerns.

Congress also asked govt to hand over the draft of the UCC bill “for a detailed discussion in the House” and sought an extension of the session saying that “it was not enough to discuss the serious issue.” Arya said, “How do you expect someone to read, understand and make points from a 740-page document in a few hours or even a day?”

Assembly speaker Ritu Bhushan Khanduri when queried, said that “Congress members in the BAC had some issues on which they expressed their reservations.”

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "Uttarakhand is on the cusp of creating history. Tuesday marks a historic day for the state. I request the opposition MLAs to take part in the discussion in right spirit and put forth their views.”

Earlier in the day, the assembly paid tributes to Sarvat Kareem Ansari, who was an MLA in the present assembly and had died a few months ago. The House also remembered M S Rawat Gaonwasi, Puran Chand Sharma, Kunwar Narendra Singh, Kishan Singh and D S Negi.


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