Reacting strongly to reports of the Law Commission considering proposals for reforms in Muslim family laws, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has said the measures were "ill-motivated" and have been suggested "to pave the way for enactment of a uniform civil code of the Shariat laws".
"The executive committee of the Board is totally opposed to codification of uniform Shariat law as it will empower the state to alter, change, amend, add and delete rules of Shariat," the AIMPLB said.
Such proposals are "ill-motivated, ill-advised and these measures have been suggested to pave the way for enactment of Uniform Civil Code and to deprive the Muslims of their fundamental right to get family disputes settled according to the rules of Shariat," it said on Monday.
The Board asked the Union Law Ministry and the Law Commission to reject such proposals and publicly declare that there is no such move and that the government and the commission have no intention to effect any changes in the Muslim Personal Law.
One proposal recommends that "prohibited degrees in marriage" need not be specified in the law of civil marriages and should instead be left to be determined by the law otherwise applicable to the parties.
The proposals by Law Commission member Tahir Mehmood included a suggestion that succession to property in a civil marriage among Muslims should be regulated by Muslim law and not by the Indian Succession Act of 1925. Such a measure had already been adopted in 1978 for Hindus on the then Law Commission's recommendation.
The panel is also considering a proposal relating to enactment of Central law requiring compulsory registration of all marriages in the country.
