The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is a concept and a legislative goal in India, not a currently enacted national act or scheme. It proposes to formulate and implement a single set of laws governing personal matters for all citizens, regardless of their religion. These personal matters include marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, adoption, and succession.
The origin of the UCC is rooted in Article 44 of the Constitution of India, which is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP). Article 44 states that "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India". This provision was debated as Draft Article 35 in the Constituent Assembly on November 23, 1948, with the aim of promoting national unity and gender equality by replacing diverse, religion-based personal laws. Since DPSP are not enforceable by any court, the implementation of a national UCC is not mandatory.
The UCC is intended to replace the existing separate personal laws, such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, and the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872. It connects to the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which already provides a secular, uniform civil law for inter-faith marriages, though its use is voluntary.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly highlighted the need for a UCC in landmark judgments. In Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (1985), the Court upheld the right of a divorced Muslim woman to maintenance under the secular Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and regretted that Article 44 remained a "dead letter". In Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India (1995), the Court ruled that a Hindu man's conversion to Islam to contract a second marriage without dissolving the first was invalid, and emphasized the need for a UCC to prevent the misuse of personal laws.
Recently, the UCC has seen legislative movement at the state level. The Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand Bill, 2024, was passed by the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly on February 7, 2024, and received Presidential assent on March 13, 2024. This state-level act, which is the first concrete legislative step by any state towards a UCC, includes provisions for mandatory registration of live-in relationships, equal inheritance rights for sons and daughters, and the prohibition of polygamy and practices like triple talaq across all religions in the state. Goa is the only other part of India with a common family law, the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867, which remains in force.