West Bengal govt forms 9-member panel to examine draft UCC bill; legislation may be tabled in August | India News
NEW DELHI: The West Bengal government has constituted a nine-member expert committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai to examine and finalise the draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC), 2026.The proposed legislation is expected to be introduced during the assembly’s August session, with indigenous communities proposed to remain outside its ambit.In a notification issued on Friday, the state government said the committee has been formed to undertake a comprehensive review of the draft legislation before it is placed before the assembly.“It has been further made to appear to the Governor that considering the wide ramification and voluminous nature of the subject domain, it is necessary to constitute a committee for a comprehensive examination and review of the DRAFT BILL titled The Uniform Civil Code, West Bengal, 2026,” the notification said.It further stated that the Governor “is pleased hereby to constitute, with immediate effect, a committee comprising the following persons of eminence to examine the bill.”The panel members include:
- Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai
- Former Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy
- Resident Commissioner Dushyant Naraiala (IAS)
- Retired IAS officer Shatrughna Singh
- Principal Secretary (Home and Hill Affairs) Sanghamitra Ghosh
- Retired anthropology professor Dr Ratna Bhattacharya
- Former Gour Banga University vice-chancellor Gopalchandra Misra
- Calcutta high court advocate Osman Gani Mallick and
- Former executive director Nirmalya Bhattacharyya
The notification further stated that the state government has already prepared a draft bill aimed at creating a uniform legal framework governing personal civil matters for all residents of West Bengal, irrespective of religion, faith or community.The proposed law seeks to replace religion-specific personal laws in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession and adoption with a common legal framework while retaining constitutional exemptions available to certain categories, including indigenous communities.Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had formally announced the move to implement a UCC in the state assembly earlier this week, fulfilling a key promise made by the BJP in its Sankalp Patra, which pledged to introduce the bill within six months of coming to power in the state.Justice Desai has previously chaired the UCC committees in Uttarakhand and Gujarat and currently heads similar panels in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.Officials said the Bengal panel is expected to study existing UCC models, particularly Assam’s, given the similarities in demographic and migration-related issues faced by the two states.
