UCC Panel Receives Recommendations To Register Live In Relationships And Parental Rights To Children's Wealth

The committee receives ideas to outlaw polygamy and polyandry and reverse inheritance rights that go to parents if a son passes away. According to the official, most people support UCC.

Reverse inheritance to ensure parents have rights over their children's property, registration of talaq and live-in relationships, a ban on polygamy and polyandry, and complete inheritance rights for Muslim women are just a few of the many recommendations made to the Uttarakhand government's Uniform Civil Code (UCC) committee, as per reports.

Law On Live In Relationship

The Pushkar Singh Dhami administration established the five-member group in May to create a Uniform Civil Code(UCC)  that would be used in the hill state of Uttarakhand. The committee's head is retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai. It comprises former chief secretary Shatrughan Singh, social activist Manu Gaur, retired high court judge Permod Kohli, and vice-chancellor Doon University Surekha Dangwal.

Online recommendations have pushed for the same marriage age for both genders and the necessary registration of live-in relationships. Although there is presently no law governing live-in relationships, those who sent these recommendations felt that it is also not illegal. Couples continue to live together but are nearly in "hiding."

Several Muslim organisations and individuals have also urged that the planned UCC include divorce registration in the interest of women overall, according to the reports, during several public encounters the committee held in various regions of the state and in response to proposals they received online.

Although some have highlighted concerns over its execution, the source claimed that the majority of proposals are in favour of the UCC. There have been many public exchanges in the tribal belts, rural, and hilly regions, where calls for a complete ban on polygamy and polyandry have been made.

According to committee sources, senior citizens made many suggestions during face-to-face meetings with the public, including requests for parental rights over the children's wealth and assets and proposals to reverse the inheritance of their possessions to the children.

In the event of a need, parents have sought the right to reclaim any property handed to their children. It was said that once they formally transfer their properties to the children, parents are frequently left stranded and denied a better lifestyle. When they are uneasy, they must be able to undo the decision, even partially. Older Muslims have told the Committee that they devote their entire lives and financial resources to raising children and that, in return, they should receive care as they age.

They have asked for a legal order compelling their guardians to take care of them and, sometimes, for ownership of their property. According to them, parents currently have no legal claim to the wealth and assets of their sons in the event of their sons passing; instead, these possessions pass to the sons' spouses, who frequently discontinue connections with their husbands' families. Many parents, especially those dependent on their sons, have been said to be left helpless when their daughters-in-law inherit the sons' property.

The panel then requested public feedback via its site, emails, postal mail, and in-person submissions to the office.

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