West Bengal forms committee to review draft UCC Bill
The West Bengal government issued a notification constituting a committee to review a draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill prepared for the state, citing the "wide ramifications and voluminous nature" of the subject.
The nine-member panel is headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and includes former civil servants, a retired academic, and a practising advocate, giving it a mix of judicial, administrative, and legal expertise.
The committee has been tasked with examining the draft bill's provisions — spanning marriage, divorce, succession, adoption, and child custody — and inviting public feedback before the bill is finalised.
The state cabinet's decision to set up the panel came ahead of an expected tabling of the bill in the Assembly's monsoon/August session.
Article 44 and the Directive Principles of State Policy
Article 44, found in Part IV of the Constitution, directs that "the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." Like all Directive Principles, it is not enforceable by any court — Article 37 explicitly states that DPSPs "shall not be enforceable by any court" even while declaring them "fundamental in the governance of the country." A UCC therefore cannot be judicially compelled; it can only be achieved through ordinary legislation by Parliament or a state legislature.
Key Details
- Article 44, Part IV (Directive Principles of State Policy); non-justiciable under Article 37
- Drafted as Article 35 in the original Draft Constitution and retained despite Constituent Assembly debate over its intrusion into religious personal law
- Contrast with Fundamental Rights (Part III), which are justiciable and enforceable via writ under Articles 32 and 226
West Bengal's draft bill is a state-level legislative attempt to operationalise the Article 44 goal — a route several states have now begun exploring independently of any central UCC.
Legislative Competence Over Personal Law
Marriage, divorce, adoption, wills, intestacy, succession, and joint family matters are listed under Entry 5 of the Concurrent List (List III), Seventh Schedule. Because this subject sits in the Concurrent List rather than the Union or State List, both Parliament and state legislatures can legislate on it — subject to Article 254, under which a state law repugnant to an existing central law on the same Concurrent List entry becomes void unless it has received Presidential assent under Article 254(2).
Key Details
- Entry 5, List III, Seventh Schedule covers personal-law subjects
- Article 254(2) allows a state law to prevail over a conflicting central law on a Concurrent List entry if it receives Presidential assent
- Existing central personal-law statutes (e.g., the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937) form the backdrop any state UCC bill must reconcile with
West Bengal's committee will have to draft around this concurrent competence, the same constitutional basis Uttarakhand relied on for India's first state-level UCC.
State-Level UCC Precedents: Uttarakhand and Goa
Uttarakhand became the first state in independent India to enact a full Uniform Civil Code — passed by its Assembly on 7 February 2024, receiving Presidential assent on 12 March 2024, and coming into force on 27 January 2025. It covers marriage and divorce, succession, and live-in relationship registration, while exempting Scheduled Tribes. Goa remains the older precedent: its civil code, derived from the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 and retained after Goa's 1961 merger with India, is commonly cited as the country's only functioning uniform civil code that applies to all residents irrespective of religion.
Key Details
- Uttarakhand UCC: in force from 27 January 2025; excludes Scheduled Tribes from its scope
- Goa Civil Code: continued in force post-1961 under Article 372 (continuance of existing laws), predates the Constitution's UCC directive
- Other states, including Gujarat, have since initiated their own UCC drafting exercises, indicating a wider trend of state-level movement on Article 44
West Bengal's review committee is expected to study these existing models — Uttarakhand's in particular — while adapting provisions to the state's own demographic and social context.
Landmark Judicial Observations on Article 44
Although Article 44 creates no enforceable right, the Supreme Court has repeatedly invoked it while adjudicating disputes between religious personal law and statutory or constitutional guarantees, keeping the UCC debate alive in judicial discourse.
Key Details
- Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (1985) — the Court upheld a divorced Muslim woman's right to maintenance under Section 125 CrPC and observed that Article 44 had remained a "dead letter"; Parliament responded with the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986
- Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India (1995) — addressed bigamy via religious conversion and reiterated the need for a uniform code to prevent conflict-of-law abuse; followed by Lily Thomas v. Union of India (2000) on similar facts
- These rulings form the doctrinal reference point against which any new state UCC bill, including West Bengal's, is likely to be evaluated for its balance between Article 44's aspiration and Article 25's guarantee of freedom of religion
The review committee's mandate — to weigh the bill's provisions before introduction — reflects the same tension these cases highlighted, between personal-law diversity protected under Articles 25-28 and the constitutional goal of a common civil code.
- Review committee: nine members, chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge
- Draft bill areas under review: marriage, divorce, succession, adoption, and child custody
- Expected tabling: state Assembly's August 2026 session
- Constitutional basis: Article 44 (Part IV, non-justiciable); legislative competence under Entry 5, Concurrent List (List III)
- Uttarakhand's UCC (in force 27 January 2025) is the first and, to date, the only comprehensive state-enacted UCC besides Goa's pre-constitutional civil code