CM land purchase allegations: Madhya Pradesh Government introduces UCC Bill amid Congress protests
The Madhya Pradesh Government introduced the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026 in the State Legislative Assembly during the Monsoon Session
The State Cabinet had approved the draft legislation a day earlier
The Bill proposes a common civil law framework covering marriage, divorce, live-in relationships, and inheritance, applicable across religious communities in the state
Key provisions include a ban on polygamy, triple talaq, and nikah halala; mandatory registration of marriages, divorces, and live-in relationships; a uniform minimum marriage age of 21 for men and 18 for women; and equal inheritance rights for men and women, including removal of the "illegitimate" classification for children born outside marriage, through adoption, surrogacy, or assisted reproductive technology
Scheduled Tribes and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups are exempted from the Bill's application to preserve their customary practices
With this Bill, Madhya Pradesh becomes among the latest states to move toward implementing a state-level Uniform Civil Code, following Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Assam
Uniform Civil Code — Article 44 (Directive Principle of State Policy)
Article 44, placed in Part IV of the Constitution, directs the State to "endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." As a Directive Principle, it is not judicially enforceable (Article 37) but is meant to guide law-making, aiming to replace personal laws based on religion with a common set of civil laws governing marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance.
Key Details
- Part IV, Article 44 — one of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs), non-justiciable under Article 37 but "fundamental in the governance of the country"
- Distinguished from Fundamental Rights (Part III), which are justiciable and directly enforceable through courts
- The Constituent Assembly debated UCC extensively; it was retained as a directive rather than a fundamental right due to concerns about immediate uniformity across a religiously diverse society
- Goa has retained a common civil code (the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867) since before independence, often cited as an existing example of a UCC-like framework in India
The Madhya Pradesh Bill is a state-level legislative attempt to give effect to Article 44's directive, following the precedent set by Uttarakhand's UCC (enacted February 2024, in force from January 2025), Gujarat's UCC Bill (passed March 2026), and Assam's UCC Bill (passed May 2026).
Legislative Competence — Concurrent List and Personal Laws
Marriage, divorce, adoption, succession, and joint family matters fall under Entry 5 of the Concurrent List (List III) of the Seventh Schedule, meaning both Parliament and State Legislatures can legislate on these subjects. This is the constitutional basis on which individual states can enact their own UCC laws without a central UCC statute.
Key Details
- Seventh Schedule, Concurrent List, Entry 5: "Marriage and divorce; infants and minors; adoption; wills, intestacy and succession..."
- Under Article 254, if a state law conflicts with a central law on a Concurrent List subject, the central law prevails unless the state law has received Presidential assent under Article 254(2)
- Because personal law reform falls in the Concurrent List, states have the constitutional room to enact their own UCC-style legislation ahead of any central UCC law
- This explains why multiple states (rather than only Parliament) have separately introduced UCC bills in recent years
Madhya Pradesh's Bill, like Uttarakhand's, Gujarat's, and Assam's, relies on the state's concurrent legislative competence over marriage, divorce, and succession rather than waiting for a central Uniform Civil Code enactment.
Marriageable Age and Registration Requirements
The Bill's provision setting minimum marriage age at 21 for men and 18 for women mirrors the existing general legal position under central law, while its mandatory registration requirement for marriages, divorces, and live-in relationships introduces state-level compliance obligations beyond existing central statutes.
Key Details
- Under central law, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 sets minimum marriageable age at 21 for males and 18 for females; a 2021 proposal to raise women's age to 21 was introduced in Parliament but has not been enacted
- The Registration of Births and Deaths Act framework does not itself mandate marriage registration nationally; the Supreme Court in Seema v. Ashwani Kumar (2006) had directed states to make marriage registration compulsory
- State UCC laws (Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Assam, and now the Madhya Pradesh Bill) go further by also mandating registration of live-in relationships, a requirement not found in central personal law statutes
The Madhya Pradesh Bill's registration mandate for live-in relationships is a notable departure from existing central law and mirrors similar (and separately litigated) provisions in the Uttarakhand UCC.
- Bill: Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026 — introduced in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Monsoon Session, 2026
- Constitutional basis: Article 44 (DPSP), Part IV; legislative competence under Concurrent List Entry 5
- Minimum marriage age proposed: 21 (men), 18 (women)
- States with enacted/passed UCC legislation before Madhya Pradesh: Uttarakhand (enacted February 2024, in force January 2025), Gujarat (passed March 2026), Assam (passed May 2026)
- Exempted groups: Scheduled Tribes and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)
- Pre-existing common civil code precedent: Goa, under the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867