Exclusive: 2 days after Justice Chavan’s exit over ex-IAS officer’s presence, Maharashtra UCC panel inducted him as member

Two days after retired Bombay High Court judge Justice R C Chavan resigned from Maharashtra’s Uniform Civil Code committee, retired IAS officer Shatrughna Singh, who had attended the panel’s September 19 meeting as an adviser, was appointed a member-cum-senior adviser by the Maharashtra government on September 21, The Indian Express has learnt. Singh is the “non-member” whose presence at the September 19 meeting Justice Chavan referred to in his resignation email, questioning the role of someone who was not part of the seven-member committee.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Singh declined to comment on the matter. Calls to Justice Desai also did not elicit a response. Justice Chavan told The Indian Express, “On the day of the meeting or in the emails sent before, no intimation was given regarding Singh’s appointment as adviser.”

It is learnt that Singh was invited by the committee’s chairperson, retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai, to participate in the September 19 meeting as an “adviser”. The committee held two meetings in September, and Singh attended only the second, where he was introduced to the members and told he would be giving his inputs, sources familiar with the committee’s functioning said.

That meeting was held hours before Justice Chavan submitted his resignation. One of the issues discussed during the meeting was the questionnaire through which the committee plans to seek public feedback on the proposed UCC, it is learnt.

It is learnt that Justice Chavan suggested the questionnaire include more questions of a subjective nature to elicit detailed views from respondents. The committee, however, decided to proceed with a questionnaire containing a combination of objective and subjective questions, sources said.

The questionnaire is expected to be opened for public feedback in the coming days and will contain close to three dozen questions, it is learnt.

During the meeting, Singh raised concerns about modifications required to the website being prepared for public consultation, sources said. These included changes to the introductory text explaining the UCC to people in Maharashtra and the manner in which the questionnaire would be incorporated into the website for public access.

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In his resignation email, Chavan said that the non-member who attended the meeting had pointed out that the website prepared by state officials required further modifications. According to Chavan’s account, the chairperson then directed the authorities to make the necessary changes within a week.

Following the meeting, Chavan submitted his resignation from the committee.

On September 21, the Maharashtra government, in an official communication, appointed Singh as a member-cum-senior adviser to the UCC committee.

Singh has previously worked with Justice Desai on Uttarakhand’s UCC. He was one of five members of the Uttarakhand UCC committee headed by Justice Desai and was part of the sub-committee that worked on drafting the law as well as the group that conducted stakeholder consultations.

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After Uttarakhand’s UCC Bill was passed by the Assembly in February 2024 and received Presidential assent the following month, Singh headed the committee tasked with framing rules for its implementation.

The Uttarakhand UCC came into force on January 27, 2025.

The Maharashtra committee, headed by Justice Desai, was constituted in July to draft a UCC and make recommendations for its implementation in the state. It has been given six months to submit its report.

The other members of the committee are retired Bombay High Court judge Justice S G Mehare, former Maharashtra Chief Secretary D K Jain, former Advocate General Birendra Saraf, social activist and Padma Shri awardee Ramesh Patange, and education expert Suvarna Rawal.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the government aims to introduce a UCC Bill in the Assembly during the Winter Session in December.

An Award-winning journalist covering the state of Uttarakhand, Vidheesha Kuntamalla has reported on education, policy and social justice. She has broken news and written investigative stories on education, some of which have prompted responses from central universities and government authorities. She uses the Right to Information Act as a reporting tool and enjoys telling people-driven stories through long-form journalism. Vidheesha joined The Indian Express’s Delhi City team in 2023, where she has been part of the education coverage in the newsroom, reporting on policy, institutions, and issues affecting students and communities. Her journalism career began in 2020 as a freelance journalist after she left a career in civil engineering. She covered her home states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, focusing on gender, social justice, and politics. Vidheesha Kuntamalla Qualification, Degrees: Master of Science in Quantity Surveying from Kingston University, London Awards and Recognition: Vidheesha won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2024 for her long-form story on India’s first case of passive euthanasia. ... Read More