SHILLONG, July 5: The state government on Wednesday maintained that it would not be prudent to jump the gun and presume that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is being implemented with an agenda by the central government since the state government is yet to receive any official communication in this regard.
Stating that law has a process and procedure, Cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said, “We will respond at the correct platform. Political parties should understand that this is your government irrespective of where you sit in the Assembly and if you have to collectively fight for the rights of the people then we will call everyone on board and take suggestions and have consultations.”
Making it clear that there is no information on UCC yet, she said, “I can understand that elections are happening in certain states and there could have been statements made by certain political leaders of the country with regard to implementation of the UCC.”
She pointed out that Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma has been candid about UCC and said that the state has special privileges and is protected by the Sixth Schedule which predominately attends to personal laws in matters pertaining to land, marriage, inheritance, etc.
“It would be too early to comment on this matter though I have been told that there was a private member’s bill submitted in the Rajya Sabha but that bill was not taken up for discussion,” she added.
She also stated that even if UCC is an agenda of the NDA, it will have to call its partners in various states before taking any decision on matters that affect the states.
“We will not allow UCC to be operational in Meghalaya. We have special privileges as per the constitution and we will fight to the hilt to ensure that our personal laws remain untouched,” she said.
Asked if the state government will push for Meghalaya’s exemption from UCC, she reiterated, “I do not think we should jump the gun. Why should we seek exemption when the matter is not even official? Let the matter become official first then we shall respond accordingly because we don’t know what they will put in the UCC.”
“I feel that the UCC is a huge proposal and it does not touch just one aspect. We will cross the bridge and deal with the problem once it comes to us officially. As of now nothing is there,” she added.
