Parlt panel head Sushil Modi bats for keeping tribals out of UCC ambit; Oppn questions timing

 

 

CHAIRMAN of parliamentary panel on law and BJP MP Sushil Modi on Monday advocated keeping tribals, including those in the North East, out of the purview of any likely Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at a meeting while some Opposition members questioned the Law Commission’s timing of the move to begin consultations on the contentious issue, sources said.

 

Most Opposition members, including those from the Congress and the DMK, linked the push for the UCC to the next year’s Lok Sabha polls, sources said. The meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, first after the law panel initiated the consultation process on the common civil code, was held to hear the views of representatives of the law panel and legal affairs and legislative departments of the Law Ministry on the consultation process. Last month, the Law Commission issued a public notice inviting views from the various stakeholders on the UCC under the “Review of Personal Laws” subject.

 

According to sources, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut questioned the timing of the consultations while Congress MP Vivek Tankha and DMK MP P Wilson submitted separate written statements, asserting that there was no need to have fresh consultations on the emotive issue. In his letter, Tankha also reiterated the view of the previous law commission that providing a uniform civil code was “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”. Questioning the intent behind the move, Tagore linked the law panel move to the polls. The Law Commission was represented in the meeting by its member-secretary K Biswal. Sushil Modi in his comments pitched for keeping tribals out of the ambit of any proposed UCC and noted that all laws have exceptions.