Emerging Trends of Uniform Civil Code with special reference to Uttarakhand: An Overview

The Constitutional Assembly debates towards a Uniform Civil Code was such a code would be desirable but for the moment would remain voluntary. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s recommended; It is perfectly possible that the future Parliament may make a provision by way of making a beginning that the code shall apply only to those whom make a declaration that they are prepared to be bound by it, so that in the initial stage the application of the code may be purely voluntary, so that the fear which my friends have expressed here will be altogether nullified , this is not a novel method. It was adopted in the Shariat Act of 1937, when is was applied to territories other than the north-west frontier province. The Law said that here is a Shariat law which should be applied to mussalmaans who wanted that he should be bound by the Shariat Act should go to an officer of the state, making a declaration that he is willing to be bound by it, and after that he was made that declaring the law will bind him and his successors . Before the Muslim Personal Law Shariat Application Act, 1937 Muslim in many parts were governed by Hindu Law and even Marumukkatayam System of inheritance and succession which had been prevalent in many of the southern Indian States. Tracks the constituent assembly debates reveal that these was no consensus in the constituent assembly about what a potential Uniform Civil Code would entail. While many thought Uniform Civil Code would co-exist alongside Personal Law Systems while others thought it was to replace Personal Law.