Uniform civil code not necessary nor desirable: Law Commission

The Law Commission has recommended a series of changes to marriage and divorce laws across different religious personal laws, while concluding that a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage" in India.

The 185-page consultation paper on "Family Law Reforms", released on August 31, said a unified nation does not necessarily require complete uniformity in its personal laws. The Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice B.S. Chauhan, whose tenure ended on Friday, argued that India's cultural and religious diversity should be preserved while ensuring that personal laws remain consistent with fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Commission said secularism should not come at the cost of the country's plural character. It cautioned that the pursuit of uniformity should not become a source of tension for India's cultural diversity or threaten the country's social and territorial unity.

Among its recommendations, the Commission called for changes to marriage and divorce provisions so that men and women have equal rights. It supported making adultery an equally accessible ground for divorce for both spouses and suggested simplifying divorce procedures.

"While all family laws include adultery as a ground for divorce it is important to ensure that the provision is accessible to both spouses," the paper said.

On polygamy, the Commission recommended that Nikahnamas clearly state that polygamy is a criminal offence and argued that such a provision should apply across communities. It said the recommendation was based on the principle of equality rather than simply an attempt to promote monogamy, pointing out that allowing only men to have multiple wives creates an unequal legal position.

The Commission also recommended that the legal marriageable age should be the same for men and women at 18 years. It argued that consenting adults should not face different marriage-age requirements based on gender.

The report said that if 18 is recognised as the age at which citizens become capable of exercising important legal and political rights, they should also be treated as capable of choosing their life partners. It further argued that marriage should be viewed as an equal partnership between spouses.

Another important recommendation concerned children born from live-in relationships. The Commission urged Parliament to consider legislation that would establish the legal status of children from such relationships where the relationship does not qualify as a deemed marriage. It also recommended that such children should have inheritance rights in the self-acquired property of their parents.

The Commission's broader approach was to focus first on achieving equality within individual communities, particularly between men and women, rather than seeking complete equality between different communities through a single uniform law.

It said this approach would allow meaningful differences in personal laws to be retained while removing discriminatory provisions as far as possible.

The consultation paper ultimately argued that India's legal framework should seek to balance diversity with constitutional principles and universally recognised human rights, rather than pursuing uniformity for its own sake.