Justice R C Chavan resigns from Maharashtra UCC panel

Mumbai: Retired Bombay High Court judge Justice R C Chavan has resigned from the Maharashtra government’s seven-member committee tasked with preparing a framework for implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state, citing concerns over the panel’s functioning and the process of seeking public feedback.

Chavan submitted his resignation on September 19, two days after the committee’s second meeting. The state government accepted it on September 21.

In his resignation letter, Chavan raised objections to the manner in which a questionnaire for gathering public views on the UCC was finalised. He said suggestions made by committee members were not incorporated and that a questionnaire finalised by chairperson Justice Ranjana Desai had already been circulated for uploading.

Chavan said he had understood the exercise to involve gathering detailed views from people across Maharashtra and building consensus on issues including marriage, infertility, marital stability and delays in dispute resolution. He later understood that the exercise would primarily seek responses to specific questions in a format suited to data analysis.

He also questioned the presence of an official who was not a committee member during the meeting, saying the official discussed changes to the website being prepared for public feedback.

The committee was constituted by the state government in July under Justice Desai’s chairpersonship. Chavan said his resignation would allow the government to fill the vacant position.