Govt asks Law Commission to examine uniform civil code issue

Indicating need for wider consultation before taking a call on a uniform civil code, the government has asked the Law Commission to examine the issue.

The Law Ministry's Department of Legal Affairs has also asked the Commission to submit a report regarding the issue.

Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had earlier said that the issue could be referred to the Law Commission for examination.

Gowda had said "wider consultations" will be held with various personal law boards and other stakeholders to evolve a consensus and the process may take some time.

"...Even the Preamble of our Constitution and Article 44 of the Constitution do say that there should be a Uniform Civil Code...It needs to have a wider consultation," he had said.

A decision "cannot be done in a day or two. It will take its own time", Gowda had said.

Implementation of a common code is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto.

The move asking the law panel to examine the issue assumes significance as the Supreme Court had recently said it would prefer a wider debate, in public as well as in court, before taking a decision on the constitutional validity of 'triple talaq', which many complain is abused by Muslim men to arbitrarily divorce their wives.