West Bengal govt forms 9-member panel to examine draft UCC bill; legislation may be tabled in August
The West Bengal government constituted a nine-member expert committee to examine a draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill prepared for the state
The committee is headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, and includes former civil servants, an academic, an advocate, and other domain experts
The panel has been asked to examine the draft bill across nine key areas — including marriage, divorce, inheritance, child custody, and adoption — and to invite public suggestions and representations before finalising its recommendations
The committee's constitution followed a decision taken at a state cabinet meeting on 2 July 2026; the draft legislation is expected to be tabled during the state Assembly's August session
Article 44 — Uniform Civil Code as a Directive Principle
Article 44 states that "the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." It appears in Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy), and under Article 37, DPSPs are expressly non-justiciable — no citizen can approach a court to compel the enactment of a UCC, though Article 37 also states the principles are "fundamental in the governance of the country."
Key Details
- Part IV, Article 44; non-enforceable in a court of law per Article 37
- The Constituent Assembly debated Article 44 (then Draft Article 35) extensively; it was retained as an aspirational goal rather than a binding obligation, partly to allow gradual social consensus-building on personal law reform
- Distinguish from Fundamental Rights (Part III), which are justiciable and directly enforceable under Article 32/226
West Bengal's draft UCC bill is a state-level legislative attempt to give effect to the Article 44 goal, joining a small number of states that have moved on this front through ordinary legislation rather than a constitutional amendment.
Legislative Competence: Personal Law Under the Concurrent List
Marriage, divorce, adoption, infants and minors, wills, intestacy and succession, and joint family and partition fall under Entry 5 of List III (the Concurrent List) in the Seventh Schedule. Because these subjects are in the Concurrent List rather than the Union List, both Parliament and state legislatures are empowered to legislate on them, subject to the repugnancy rule under Article 254 (a state law inconsistent with a central law on the same Concurrent List entry is void to the extent of the inconsistency, unless it has received Presidential assent under Article 254(2)).
Key Details
- Entry 5, List III, Seventh Schedule covers marriage, divorce, adoption, succession, and related personal-law matters
- This concurrent placement is why individual states — not just Parliament — can enact their own civil code legislation
- Any state UCC bill would need to navigate potential repugnancy with existing central personal-law statutes (e.g., the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Indian Christian Marriage Act 1872, Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937)
West Bengal's move to draft its own UCC bill relies on this concurrent legislative competence — the same constitutional route used by Uttarakhand for its 2024 code.
Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Act, 2024 — The First State-Level Precedent
Uttarakhand became the first state in independent India to enact a comprehensive Uniform Civil Code, passed by its Legislative Assembly on 7 February 2024, receiving Presidential assent on 12 March 2024, and brought into force on 27 January 2025.
Key Details
- Structured in four parts: marriage and divorce, succession, live-in relationships, and miscellaneous provisions
- Sets a common minimum marriage age (18 for women, 21 for men), mandates compulsory registration of marriages, and provides uniform grounds for divorce across communities
- Grants equal inheritance rights to sons and daughters and removes the ancestral/self-acquired property distinction for succession
- Mandates compulsory registration of live-in relationships; the Act excludes members of Scheduled Tribes from its scope, consistent with the special constitutional protections available to tribal customary law
West Bengal's expert committee — like Uttarakhand's earlier drafting process — will need to work through the same core areas (marriage, divorce, succession, adoption) now being formally referred for review before a bill is tabled.
Landmark Cases Linking Article 44 to Personal Law Reform
Article 44 has repeatedly surfaced in Supreme Court judgments dealing with conflicts between religious personal law and statutory or constitutional guarantees, even though the Article itself creates no enforceable right.
Key Details
- Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (1985) — the Court awarded maintenance to a divorced Muslim woman under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code and observed that Article 44 had remained a "dead letter"; the resulting Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 followed
- Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India (1995) — addressed bigamy through religious conversion and again invoked the need for a uniform code; followed by Lily Thomas v. Union of India (2000) on the same issue
- The Goa Civil Code, derived from the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 and retained after Goa's 1961 integration into India, is commonly cited as India's only functioning example of a uniform civil code applicable to all residents regardless of religion
These cases form the doctrinal backdrop against which any new state UCC — including West Bengal's — will be evaluated, both on constitutional validity and on how it balances Article 44's goal against Article 25's guarantee of freedom of religion.
- Committee size: 9 members, chaired by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (retired Supreme Court judge)
- Cabinet decision to form the committee: 2 July 2026
- Draft bill's nine areas of examination include marriage, divorce, inheritance, child custody, and adoption
- Expected tabling: state Assembly's August 2026 session
- Uttarakhand UCC: passed 7 February 2024, Presidential assent 12 March 2024, in force from 27 January 2025 — first state-level UCC in India
- Constitutional basis: Article 44 (Part IV, non-justiciable); legislative competence under Entry 5, List III (Concurrent List)