Uttarakhand government plans special Assembly session amid buzz over UCC Bill, quota hike
The Hindu
Uttarakhand govt. to call special Assembly session to pass UCC or 10% reservation for statehood agitators. Draft of UCC ready, taking into account gender equality, property rights & adoption rules. Cabinet subcommittee formed to decide on agitators' reservation demand.
The Uttarakhand government is planning to call a special Assembly session in the second half of this month, during which it intends to pass one of two much-awaited Bills — either the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), or a proposal for 10% horizontal reservation for statehood agitators and their dependents — according to sources in the government.
A Secretary-level official confirmed to The Hindu that orders have been issued to start preparations for the special session, though its dates have still not been decided.
“We have been told that we should be ready for the session which can be called anytime after the Deepavali holiday. The Bills that may get tabled in the session are either UCC or reservation for Rajya Andolankaris (statehood agitators) and their dependents,” he said.
The official also confirmed that the committee formed by the Uttarakhand government in June last year to examine pathways for the implementation of UCC in the State has not yet submitted its final draft. “But the committee too has been asked to be ready with the same,” the official confirmed.
He added that the State cabinet, in September this year, had already granted approval to present the Bill proposing 10% horizontal reservation for statehood agitators and their dependents.
The State’s UCC draft has taken all aspects of the issue into account, from gender equality to the elimination of arbitrariness and discrimination, from uniform laws on property rights to adoption rules, retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, who is heading the UCC committee, said on Friday. She also confirmed that the draft of the UCC is ready. Once at the printing stage, it will be submitted to the State government, she added.
Apart from Justice Desai, who also heads the Delimitation Commission, the UCC committee’s members include Justice Pramod Kohli, social worker Manu Gaur, who heads the Taxpayers Association of Bharat, retired IAS officer Shatrughan Singh, and Doon University Vice-Chancellor Surekha Dangwal.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.