The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking for uniform grounds and rules for divorce as well as for adoption and guardianship for all communities nationwide. The Central government rejected the petition.

The government claimed in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court that Upadhyay had not approached the Court in a clean manner because the Delhi High Court is currently hearing his request for a Uniform Civil Code, and there may be some overlap between the arguments made in his petition to the Supreme Court and those made in his petition to the High Court. Therefore, the government requested that Upadhyay’s case be rejected.

The Central government informed the court in an affidavit it submitted on Thursday that it had asked the Law Commission of India to investigate several UCC-related concerns and provide recommendations because the topic was sensitive and required an in-depth investigation.

The Central government further asserted that the petition was unmaintainable because it had been established by a chain of judgements that, according to the Constitutional system, the parliament has the sole authority to enact laws and that no other entity could order the passage of a specific piece of legislation.

Additionally, it was argued that only a person acting in good faith would have the authority to petition a court on behalf of the poor and needy who might be suffering from a breach of their legal rights.  According to the affidavit, Upadhyay also went to the Delhi High Court to request the Central government for a Uniform Civil Code. “This may have a legal connection to the matter raised in this PIL. The petitioner hasn’t come to this court with clean hands, so to speak.”

The government requested that the plea be rejected with costs after making these arguments.

CASE: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v Union of India