Kolkata: Three rooms have been allotted on the first floor of the Writers’ Buildings as the designated office for the committee drafting the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for Bengal. The second meeting of the panel — its first in Kolkata — will take place at Writers’ Buildings on Monday.A state govt official said, “The designated office for the UCC committee is in the judicial department. Three rooms have been allotted for them on the first floor. Among the three rooms, a large room will be used for conferences and meetings, another room is for the officials, IT and research team and the third room is for the members.”The nine-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai held its first meeting on Sept 3 in New Delhi. A source revealed that the second meeting of the UCC committee will take place in this office. “Some members will be physically present, while others will attend the meeting virtually,” an official said, adding that launching the website and other matters like deciding upon the workforce such as IT and research team are likely to be discussed in the meeting on Monday.An official shared that people will be able to submit hard copies of public representations at this office after the public notice inviting representation is out. “Those representations will be processed and documented here. There will be a designated email ID and a website will be launched as well. There is likely to be an option of Google Form through which people can submit their opinions. The purpose is to reach out and collect as many public representations as possible. Public hearings will also be held across five divisions in the state — Presidency, Burdwan, Midnapore, Malda and Jalpaiguri,” said the official.CM Suvendu Adhikari earlier stated that Bengal will be the third state to implement UCC after Uttarakhand and Gujarat. He had said that everyone’s suggestions will be considered and he hoped that the work will be completed quickly. “Once I receive the report, if they say that the UCC can be implemented, then I will bring it to the Assembly. That is my job, done through the cabinet,” Adhikari had said previously.The UCC of Bengal will replace religion-specific personal laws with a single, unified legal framework governing marriage, divorce, maintenance, succession and guardianship for all communities. The Scheduled Tribes are not within the ambit of the proposed UCC. Nearly 12 marriage acts will be replaced by a single unified act focusing on gender equality and being religion-neutral in the proposed UCC of Bengal. This proposed act will not interfere in the matter of culture, dress and other rituals.
