Maharashtra has formed a seven-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai to prepare a draft for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code in the state, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Assembly on Thursday.

Desai also headed the panels that drafted Uniform Civil Codes for Uttarakhand and Gujarat.

The committee is expected to submit its report within six months, as the government is planning to introduce the draft legislation in the Winter Session of the Assembly, Fadnavis said.

The other members of the panel are former Bombay High Court judges RC Chavan and SG Mehare, former state Chief Secretary DK Jain, former Advocate General Virendra Saraf, constitutional expert Ramesh Patange and educationist Suvarna Rawal.

The Uniform Civil Code aims to introduce a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens. Currently, such personal affairs of different religions are based on community-specific laws, largely derived from religious scripture.

It has long been on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda to implement a common personal law and several states ruled by the party have made progress towards achieving the goal.

In January 2025, BJP-ruled Uttarakhand became the first state to implement the Uniform Civil Code after independence. The Gujarat Assembly cleared a similar legislation in March amid protests by the Opposition.

The Assam Assembly on May 27 passed the Uniform Civil Code bill seeking to ban polygamy and make the registration of live-in relationships compulsory. The Opposition had demanded that the bill should be sent to a select committee for scrutiny.

A common civil code has been in place in Goa since the Portuguese Civil Code was adopted in 1867.