President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Gujarat Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026, making it the second state in independent India after Uttarakhand to codify a common set of personal laws.
Moving the Bill, Patel had said, “This Bill has been introduced for the sisters and daughters of Gujarat. The state government will notify the rules for the code, after which the law will come into force. Chief minister Bhupendra Patel tabled it a week after a panel headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai submitted its report. This Bill ensures that no community is discriminated against. It does not take away anyone’s rights or restrict anyone’s freedom. The Congress staged a walkout. Both Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had requested that the Bill be referred to a select committee, while Opposition members termed the legislation anti-Muslim and alleged it was being brought for political gain — a charge the government rejected.
The legislation, passed after an eight-hour debate on March 24, exempts the state’s Scheduled Tribe (ST) population. The state has taken a step towards accelerating the pace of a developed India by 2047 through the UCC.
Justice Desai had previously headed the committee that drafted the Uttarakhand code.
