22 September,2026 03:51 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The state government has given the UCC committee six months to examine legal, social, cultural and administrative aspects of the proposed code. File pic
Former Bombay High Court judge Justice R C Chavan has resigned from the Maharashtra government's committee tasked with preparing a draft framework for implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state, citing serious reservations over the panel's functioning and its approach to seeking public feedback.
In his resignation letter to committee chairperson Justice Ranjana Desai (retd), Chavan objected to restricting responses on complex social issues to a "Yes/No" format.
He said he had understood that the committee's objective was to gather views from people across Maharashtra and build consensus on issues such as delayed marriages, infertility, unstable marriages and delays in resolving matrimonial disputes.
"Now that the misunderstanding is removed, I realise that the aim is to just provide an opportunity to people who may care, to share their responses, in a 'yes or no' format to the questions posed so that analysis of data becomes easy," the letter said.
Chavan said one of the agenda items at a committee meeting was to finalise the questionnaire, but the chairperson had already circulated questions finalised by her and said they would be uploaded once the website was functional.
In his resignation letter, Chavan also alleged that meetings were being concluded without substantive discussion. He said agenda items, including confirmation of minutes, website modifications and finalisation of the questionnaire, were disposed of quickly on the chairperson's directions.
He also questioned the involvement of an officer from outside Maharashtra in the panel's functioning.
"Maharashtra officers may feel they are not competent to do this duty that an officer from another state had to be called," he stated.
"It may also be that he did not know as to where to fit the officer in (the committee's functioning).
"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," he added.
Chavan said his assignment with the committee had been a learning experience and wished the panel well.
The Maharashtra government constituted the seven-member committee in July under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai. The panel has been given six months to examine the legal, social, cultural and administrative aspects of the UCC and study the experience of other states.
The other members include former high court judge S G Mehare, former Maharashtra chief secretary D K Jain, former advocate general Virendra Saraf, constitutional expert Ramesh Patange and educationist Suvarna Rawal.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the government plans to implement the UCC after the committee submits its report and aims to introduce legislation during the winter session of the state Assembly in Nagpur.
NCP MLC Idris Naikwadi has also raised concerns over the panel's composition, saying minority communities do not have representation.
(With inputs from PTI)
