Uttarakhand’s UCC changes inheritance laws: Who is covered and how will it impact individuals living in other parts of India?
Published by The Economic Times
Uttarakhand has become the first state in the country to have passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the Legislature, which makes laws on marriage, divorce and inheritance the same for every individual in the state. What this means is that personal laws regarding marriage, divorce, inheritance will not matter irrespective of whether a person is a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain or of any other religion.
Prior to the UCC, inheritance laws in Uttarakhand, just as in the rest of India, varied according to the religion of the person concerned. Inheritance laws for a Hindu in the state were determined according to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956; for a Christian in the state inheritance laws were as per the Indian Succession Act, 1925; and for a Muslim in the state inheritance was governed by the personal laws.