Former Justice R. C. Chavan resigns from Maharashtra UCC panel

Former Justice R. C. Chavan has resigned from the Maharashtra government’s committee set up to prepare a draft for implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), citing disagreements over its functioning and the involvement of an official from outside the State.

The Maharashtra government in July set up the seven-member committee, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai, to draft a framework for implementing the common civil code in the State.

Justice Chavan, a former high court judge, resigned from the panel on September 19.

Mr. Chavan, in his resignation letter, raised several concerns and alleged that meetings were being concluded without substantive discussion.

Agenda items such as confirmation of minutes, website modifications and finalisation of questionnaires were disposed of quickly on the directions of the chairperson, he claimed.

Suggestions from members, including on framing the questionnaire to elicit detailed public views on issues like late marriages, infertility, unstable marriages and dispute resolution, were not considered, as a questionnaire finalised by the chairperson had already been circulated for uploading, he further claimed.

He also flagged the involvement of an officer from outside the State in the panel. “Maharashtra officers may feel they are not competent to do this duty that an officer from another State had to be called,” he said.

“It may also be that he did not know as to where to fit” the officer (in the committee’s functioning), Justice Chavan said.

“To solve this problem, I am vacating my seat on the committee by resigning now, so that the government can fill in the blank promptly,” the former judge said.

He added that the committee assignment had been a learning experience and wished the panel well.