The Maharashtra government has inducted retired civil servant Shatrughna Singh into the state’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) committee , days after his presence at a committee meeting provoked retired high court judge RC Chavan to resign from the panel
Maharashtra constituted the panel, led by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai, in July this year to prepare draft legislation to implement the UCC, or a common set of laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession for all. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had given the committee six months to come up with a draft law. Earlier this month, Union home minister Amit Shah declared that the governments in 21 states ruled by the BJP-led NDA will introduce UCC before the next parliamentary elections in 2029.
Chavan declined to comment on the news of the government appointing Singh following his resignation. A senior government official said Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 1983 batch, was appointed at the chairperson’s request.
“I have heard that Singh has joined the committee, but haven’t seen the order,” he said. Justice Ranjana Samant Desai wanted the former Uttarakhand chief secretary to be part of the committee, but the order had not been issued earlier, the official said.
