'We are ready': Uttarakhand to implement UCC by January-end, says CM Pushkar Dhami

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said all preparations were in place for the rollout of the UCC in the state. (File photo: X/pushkardhami)

Almost a year after its passage in the state Assembly, the Uttarakhand government is finally set to roll out the much-debated Uniform Civil Code this month, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in an interaction with CNN-News18 in New Delhi on Friday.

"We promised this to the people of Uttarakhand in the 2022 polls. And with the formation of our government, we formed the committee...good news will come this month," he said.

Once implemented, Uttarakhand will earn the distinction of being the first Indian state to implement the law that seeks to put all citizens, regardless of their religion, under the same ambit of law.

"There are many departments involved. This was our promise to the people of Devbhoomi," Dhami said, reiterating that every citizen in Uttarakhand will have the same law now.

The implementation of the UCC was expected a few weeks ago but was held back in view of the Uttarakhand local body elections which concluded on Thursday. The much-anticipated development follows a long-drawn process that saw a five-member high-level panel led by retired judge Ranjana Prakash Desai present a report on the proposed framework for a UCC in the state.

The Uniform Civil Code Bill, 2024, was eventually tabled in the state Assembly and passed on February 7, 2024. The Bill received Presidential assent on March 12, 2024, and became an act.

"We have made all the preparations; we are ready…That is why it has taken this much time," CM Dhami said.

Over the past few weeks, the state government has undertaken an elaborate training programme for all stakeholders to ensure seamless rollout. Online portals have been developed for citizens and officials, featuring Aadhaar-based verification, AI-based translation services in 22 Indian languages, and data integration across more than 13 departments/services (e.g., birth-death registrations, district/high courts, etc.). These portals are cloud-based and equipped with disaster recovery systems.

The training programme for officials began in the state on January 13 to help familiarize them with the UCC portal. The government targets to train 10,000 village development officers (VDO) under the CSC scheme by January 24, 2025. District-wise nodal officers have been appointed, and a helpline has been established to address portal-related queries. For legal queries, district-level prosecution department officers have been designated, it added.

The state government has also authorised Common Service Centres to facilitate online registrations on the portal. CSC agents have also been directed to travel door to door in remote areas where internet access is limited. For easier access to rural citizens, the government has appointed Village Panchayat Development Officers as sub-registrars to provide registration services at the local levels.

The Uttarakhand UCC portal has three options for stakeholders to log in for citizens, service centre staff and officials and mandate Aadhaar details to sign up.

The list of services provided on the portal includes registration of marriage, divorce, and live-in registrations, termination of live-in relationships, intestate succession and declaration of legal heirs, testamentary successions, appeal in cases where application is rejected, access to information, and complaint registration.