Justice RC Chavan Quits Maharashtra UCC Panel Over Questionnaire Dispute

Retired Bombay High Court judge Justice RC Chavan has stepped down from the seven-member committee drafting a Uniform Civil Code for Maharashtra, with the state government accepting his resignation on Monday. He submitted his papers on 19 September, shortly after the panel held its second meeting online.

The committee, constituted in July and chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai, includes former Bombay High Court judges Justice RC Chavan and Justice SG Mehare, former chief secretary DK Jain, former Maharashtra advocate general Virendra Saraf, Constitution expert and Padma Shri awardee Ramesh Patange, and educationist and social activist Suvarna Rawal.

In an email to the committee, Justice Chavan said the meeting's agenda included finalising a questionnaire for public feedback on the UCC. He wrote that three members put forward suggestions — that respondents answer only in yes or no, and that the questionnaire be examined professionally by professors under the supervision of member Dr Suvarna Rawal. According to him, the chairperson had already circulated a questionnaire finalised by her and said it would be uploaded once the website was ready, which he took to mean the last agenda item was concluded. He said he logged out to save time and internet.

Justice Chavan said his attempt to place his views, despite the chairperson's questionnaire having been mailed, stemmed from his understanding that the exercise was meant to gather the views of Maharashtra's people and build consensus on issues such as late marriages, perversions, infertility, unstable marriages and a time-consuming dispute resolution mechanism. He said he now realised the aim was to offer people who may care an opportunity to respond in yes or no, so that data analysis would be easy.

His email also flagged the presence of a non-member at the meeting. He said this person stated that the website prepared by state officials needed further modifications, after which the chairperson directed authorities to make the changes within a week. Justice Chavan said he did not know where the person fit and that the suggestion led him to speculate that state officials may feel they are not competent. Stating that he was vacating his seat so the government could fill the vacancy promptly, he added that as a free citizen he would be free to air his views, and described the stint as a great learning experience on a subject close to his heart.

The meeting's three-point agenda covered confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting held last month, a discussion on the website for feedback and opinions on the UCC, and the questionnaire.

Born on 12 April 1952, Justice Chavan began his judicial career as a Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Judicial Magistrate First Class on 1 March 1976. He was promoted to Civil Judge (Senior Division) in July 1985 and to Additional District and Sessions Judge in March 1987. He served as an Additional District and Sessions Judge at Jalgaon and Thane and as a Joint District and Sessions Judge at Nashik, and was appointed Joint Director of the Judicial Officers Training Institute, Nagpur, serving from 1990 to 1994. He later worked as a District and Sessions Judge in Nanded, Aurangabad, Daman and Diu and Pune.

He served as Additional Registrar, Registrar and the first Registrar General of the Bombay High Court before being elevated as a judge of the Bombay High Court on 22 June 2005, serving until 2013. He is credited with pioneering the e-court system in India. He was appointed a judge of the Special Court (TORTS), Bombay, on 19 November 2012, and also served as chairman of the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

After retiring from the bench, Justice Chavan turned to writing, authoring two books, Cries in Wilderness and More Cries in Wilderness, which set out his views on the law and the judiciary. He has also written a novel, Yes My Lords, It's You In The Mirror, and is working on a forthcoming title, Who Killed Rule of Law.