Retired HC Judge in Maharashtra UCC Panel Objects to Reducing Public Feedback to 'Yes/No' Options, Resigns

New Delhi: Expressing concerns over how public feedback is being gathered for the draft a framework for implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), former Bombay high court judge Justice R.C. Chavan has resigned from the Maharashtra’s UCC drafting panel, reported Deccan Chronicle.

The retired judge has expressed strong objections to the committee’s decision to limit public input on major social matters to simple “Yes/No” options.

Justice Chavan argued that reducing important issues such as late marriages, infertility, sexual perversions, and escalating matrimonial conflicts to binary choices, fundamentally undermined the primary purpose of consensus-building.

In his letter to panel chairperson Justice Ranjana Desai (retd), Chavan said that he had mistakenly believed the committee’s goal was to gather public feedback across Maharashtra and build consensus on addressing issues including delayed marriages, infertility, marital instability, and slow dispute resolution.

“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,” said Justice Chavan in the letter.

Justice Chavan also alleged in his letter that meetings were being wrapped up without substantive discussion and that key agenda items including the confirmation of minutes, website modifications, and questionnaire finalisation were rushed through at the chairperson's direction, reported Deccan Herald.

'In reality, an instrument of division, disruption and diversion'

The opposition Congress cited the resignation of Justice Chavan and said on Wednesday that for the Modi Government, the UCC is not an instrument of considered legal reform to be implemented after the widest possible consultations and public debate and with the broadest possible consensus.

“It is, in reality, an instrument of division, disruption and diversion, a tool for harassment and intimidation, stoking prejudices and keeping society in a state of permanent polarisation,” said Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh in a statement on Wednesday (September 23).

A retired High Court judge has shown courage to resign from a committee set up by the Maharashtra government to prepare a uniform civil code for the state. Here is our statement on the non-uniform “Uniform” Civil Codes (UCC) the HM is trying to bulldoze through in every state.… pic.twitter.com/oxsyCrEmLx

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 23, 2026

“On June 17, 2016, the Modi Government referred the question of the Uniform Civil Code to the 21st Law Commission of India for detailed examination. After extensive research, the Commission published its Consultation Paper on Reform of Family Law on Aug 31, 2018. Its conclusion appearing in paragraph 1.15 on page 7 of the Consultation Paper was clear: “The formulation of a Uniform Civil Code is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”. Instead it recommended addressing discrimination within individual family laws while preserving India’s legal and cultural diversity.” added Ramesh.

Ramesh added that the Modi Government has chosen to disregard the findings of the very Commission it tasked with examining the issue because the facts, did not align with its political agenda.

“Did the Constituent Assembly ever imagine a situation in which every state would enact its own separate version of a UCC? The answer is a resounding no. Did the architects of our Constitution led by Dr B.R. Ambedkar ever conceive of States competing with one another to have different UCCs according to the political machinations and calculations of one political party? Again, the answer is a resounding no,” said Ramesh.

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