The Delhi High Court
said on Tuesday the petition by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking
implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was prima facie not maintainable
and asked him to place before it the prayers made by him before the Supreme
Court in similar matters.
"You file those prayers. We will see. It is
prima facie not maintainable. We will first see if it is maintainable," a
bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad
told Upadhyay.
The court was informed that in March the top court
refused to entertain petitions by Upadhyay in respect of gender neutral and
religion neutral laws observing that these fell within the legislative domain
and that he had even withdrawn a plea from there in relation to UCC in 2015.
The court remarked that a "simpliciter
withdrawal" has to be distinguished from a "withdrawal with
liberty" to approach a court with the same grievance and directed the
petitioner to file the prayers in these matters in four weeks.
Lawyer MR Shamshad, representing the All India
Muslim Personal Law Board, said he was the intervenor in the case and the
Supreme Court has rejected Upadhyay's petitions on the same subject matter.
"He filed four petitions in Supreme Court which
were dismissed....This was his second round," he said.
Upadhyay said his
pleas before the apex court concerned talaq (divorce) under the muslim law and
he was awaiting the response of the law commission.
In May 2019, the high court had sought the Centre's
response to Upadhyay's petition seeking constitution of a judicial commission
to draft the UCC in order to promote national integration, gender justice and
equality, and dignity of women.
Besides Upadhyay's petition, there are four others
petitions as well which have contended that India "urgently needs a
Uniform Civil Code".
The petitioners have contended that gender justice
and gender equality, guaranteed under Articles 14-15 of the Constitution and
dignity of women, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, cannot be
secured without implementing Article 44 (the State shall endeavour to secure
for citizens a UCC throughout the territory of India).
The petitions have claimed that the UCC, with a
common set of rules governing every citizen of the country, will replace the
personal laws, which are based on the scriptures and customs of various
religious communities.
In response, the Centre has said citizens from
different religions and denominations following different property and
matrimonial laws is an affront to the nation's unity and the Uniform Civil Code
will result in the integration of India.
It has, however, stated that a petition is not
maintainable for formulation of the UCC as it is a "matter of
policy", which has to be decided by the elected representatives of the
people and no direction can be issued in this regard.
The Centre has asserted it will examine in
consultation with stakeholders the issue of formulating the Code after it
receives the report of the law commission.
The matter will be heard next on August 3.