Who is Justice RC Chavan? Ex-Bombay HC judge who resigned from Maharashtra UCC panel — Here's why he quit

Retired Bombay High Court Judge Justice RC Chavan resigned as a member of Maharashtra’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) committee, the Indian Express reported on Tuesday. He reportedly submitted his resignation on September 19, hours after the committee held an online meeting. The state government accepted it on Monday.

In July, a seven-member committee, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai, was formed to draft a Uniform Civil Code for the state. The other members of the committee include Former Bombay High Court Judges Justice RC Chavan and Justice SG Mehare.

Maharashtra's former Chief Secretary DK Jain, and former Advocate General of Maharashtra Virendra Saraf, Padma Shri awardee and Constitution expert Ramesh Patange, and Educationist and social activist Suvarna Rawal were also part of the committee, according to PTI.

Who is Justice (retd) RC Chavan?

Born on April 12th, 1952, (retd) Justice RC Chavan joined judicial service as Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Judicial Magistrate First Class on March 1, 1976.

He was promoted as Civil Judge (Senior Division) in July 1985 and as an Additional District and Sessions Judge in March 1987, according to his profile on a government website.

Justice Chavan served as an Additional District and Session Judge at Jalgaon and Thane and Joint District and Sessions Judge at Nashik.

He was appointed as Joint Director, Judicial Officers Training Institute in Nagpur and served as such from 1990 to 1994.

He also worked as District and Sessions Judge in Nanded, Aurangabad, Daman and Diu and Pune.

He served as Additional Registrar, Registrar and the first Registrar General of Bombay High Court and was elevated to judge of the Bombay High Court on June 22, 2005, and served till 2013.

Justice Chavan also pioneered the e-court system in India and is known for insightful judicial contributions, according to Pravah Foundation.

He was appointed as a Judge of the Special Court (TORTS), Bombay on November, 19, 2012. He joined as Chairman of Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

After his retirement as a high court judge, he entered into the field of literature and authored two books “Cries in Wilderness” and “More Cries in Wilderness,” expressing his candid views on various aspects of law and judiciary.

He has recently authored a novel “Yes My Lords, It’s You In The Mirror”, which is a tale of four friends’ journey in Judiciary. Currently, he is working on his next literary title – “Who Killed Rule Of Law”.

Why did RC Chavan resign from Maharashtra UCC panel?

Justice (retd) RC Chavan's resignation came after Maharashtra’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) committee held its second meeting on September 19.

In his email to the committee, Justice Chavan said, as per the Indian Express, that one of the agendas of the meeting was to finalise the questionnaire for public feedback on the UCC.

He reportedly wrote, “Three members tried to articulate their views, such as respondents being required to answer only in yes or no, or the need to have the questionnaire quickly examined professionally by professors under the supervision of member Dr Suvarna Rawal."

"The honourable chairperson had already circulated the questionnaire finalised by her and stated that it would be uploaded once the website was ready. Thus, the third and the last item on the agenda of today’s meeting was over. Therefore, to save time and internet, I logged out," it read, as per the Indian Express.

“My attempt to put forth my views, even though the questionnaire finalised by the honourable chairperson had already been mailed, was due to my misunderstanding that our exercise was aimed at gathering the views of the people of Maharashtra, and to generate a consensus to remedy the issues of late marriages, perversions, infertility, unstable marriage, time-consuming dispute resolution mechanism, etc," he reportedly said.

"Now that it 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 to the questions posed so that analysis of data becomes easy,” he said.

The email also alleged that a non-member attended the meeting. The non-member said the website prepared by the state officials needed further modifications, and the committee chairperson directed the authorities to make the necessary changes within a week, Justice Chavan said.

He said he did not know where the person fit, and added that the non-member’s suggestion made him speculate that the state’s officials may feel they are not competent. “To solve this problem, I am vacating my seat on the committee by resigning now, so that the government can fill in the blank promptly,” he said, adding that as a free citizen, he would be free to air his views. “It was a great learning experience on a subject close to my heart,” he said.

The meeting’s three-point agenda included confirming the minutes of the previous meeting held last month, and discussion on the website for feedback and opinion on the UCC.