West Bengal Cabinet to Review Draft Uniform Civil Code Bill on July 2

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said the draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill will be placed before the state Cabinet on July 2, ahead of its introduction in the Assembly, according to PTI.

Adhikari had earlier said a committee will be constituted under the leadership of a retired judge, and that the state would follow the same procedure adopted in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Assam.

The BJP had promised in its election manifesto, the Sankalp Patra, that it would implement the Uniform Civil Code within six months of forming the government in West Bengal. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had made the commitment a prominent part of his campaign pitch during the 2026 assembly elections.

The Uniform Civil Code aims to establish a common set of civil laws for all citizens irrespective of religion, covering key areas such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and succession.

The bill, if passed, will replace the different personal laws followed by various religious communities with one common legal system, while keeping constitutional exemptions for certain groups.

Goa is currently the only state that has had a common civil code for decades, following the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 which continued after Goa became part of India in 1961.

Uttarakhand became the first state in independent India to pass its own UCC law, which came into effect on January 27, 2025. Gujarat became the second state after passing the Gujarat Uniform Civil Code Bill on March 24, 2026, and Assam became the third and the first in Northeast India to pass a UCC bill on May 29, 2026.