The Uttarakhand administration has filed a detailed 78-page affidavit in the high court. It explains how the state’s policies about live-in partnerships will alter under the new Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The state told the court that it is modifying some rules to give applicants more “flexibility.”
In January of this year, Uttarakhand became the first state in India to use the UCC. The Pushkar Dhami government says that the UCC is meant to set norms for civil concerns that all religions may agree on, such as marriage, inheritance, and maintenance.
On October 15, Advocate General SN Babulkar gave the affidavit to a division bench made up of Chief Justice G Narendra and Justice Subhash Upadhyay.
Important Changes to the Rules for Living Together
The main goals of the proposed reforms are to make it easier to register and end cohabiting partnerships, make it clearer how data can be shared, and give people more options when it comes to the paperwork they need.
- Clarifying Registration Restrictions (Rule 380): The affidavit affirms that Rule 380 of the Registrar’s Office, which states the criteria under which a live-in relationship cannot be registered, would be maintained. These are some of the scenarios that are not allowed:
The couple is in a relationship that is not allowed.
One or both of the people are already married or living with someone else.
One of the people in the couple is a child.
- Limiting Police Data Sharing: The new rules make it clear that the registrar and the local police can only share certain types of data. The affidavit makes it clear that any information shared with the police is only for “record-keeping purposes.”
- Making Aadhaar more flexible: Changes are suggested to the requirement that Aadhaar be used as proof of identification in order to make it more “flexible.” The new guidelines will let people use other forms of identity if they can’t supply Aadhaar, especially if they aren’t the main applicant.
- Extending the Appeal Period: A change suggests giving applicants more time to appeal a registrar’s decision to deny a declaration of cohabitation. The time to appeal will go from 30 days to 45 days after the rejection order is received.
Required Registration and Kids’ Rights
The UCC in Uttarakhand says that those who live together must register their relationship, and the registrar must tell the couple’s parents. CM Dhami said before that the rule also makes sure that children born to couples who live together would have the same rights to property.