Uttarakhand cabinet approves UCC manual, date of implementation to be announced soon
The Uniform Civil Code refers to a common set of laws that will subsume customary laws across faiths and tribes and govern a gamut of issues.
The Uttarakhand cabinet on Monday approved the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) manual, paving the way for the implementation of the law in the state, even as the date for its implementation will be announced soon.

“We had promised the people of Uttarakhand during the 2022 elections that we will bring the UCC law after our government comes into power, and we have done that. The training of officials is also almost complete. We...will soon announce the date of implementation after reviewing all the issues. Uttarakhand will be the first state to implement UCC in India,” chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
The Uttarakhand UCC legislation rules making and implementation committee submitted its draft report on the manual to the chief minister on October 18 last year.
The manual comprises procedures related to the registration of marriage and divorce, live-in relationships, birth and death registration and rules related to inheritance. Keeping in view the ease of use to the general public, a portal and mobile application have also been developed so that all the facilities can be made available to the general public through the online medium.
UCC refers to a common set of laws that will subsume customary laws across faiths and tribes and govern issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance. In the Constitution, it is a part of the non-justiciable directive principles of state policy.
The nine categories under which the residents of Uttarakhand can apply for various services and registrations include Registration of Marriage/Acknowledgement of Registered Marriage, Registration of Divorce/Nullity of Marriage, Registration of Live-in Relationship, Termination of Live-in Relationship, Intestate Succession-Declaration of Legal Heirs (Intestate succession determines legal heirs and asset distribution when someone dies without a will), Testamentary Succession-Registration of Wills (securely creating and registering a will), Appeal (appeals against decisions related to various applications ) and Access to Data/Information (getting access for different data and information related to applications), and Register a complaint (for submitting and tracking grievances transparently and efficiently).
The UCC legislation has provisions for equal rights for women in inheritance in ancestral properties, equal rights to adopt, divorce and a ban on polygamy, mandatory registration/self-declaration for live-in relationships, mandatory registration of marriage of marriages and divorce, (common marriageable age, 18 for women and 21 for men. Apart from provisions for online registration of live-in relationships, marriages, deaths and births and wills, those who are not digitally literate, they can register through CSCs (common services centres), which are located across the state
The Uttarakhand government had formed a committee headed by retired IAS officer Shatrughna Singh on February 10 last year to prepare the draft of the rules for the UCC Bill, which was passed in the state assembly on February 7 last year. The Bill was approved by President Droupadi Murmu on 11 March 2024.
