2 OBC amendment bills passed in WB House, Cabinet to discuss UCC

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said that a draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill will be placed before the state cabinet on July 2. Announcing this in the assembly, Adhikari said that former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai will head a committee that will formulate the UCC bill.The proposed legislation seeks to establish a common civil framework governing marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption irrespective of religion. 

VIDEO | Kolkata, West Bengal: "We will discuss draft UCC bill in the cabinet on July 2; tribals will not be included in it; committee formed will be give its report and then the bill be placed in the assembly", says West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari.

Source: Third party pic.twitter.com/hAQQtuaobB

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Ahead of the introduction of the Bill, state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya asserted that constitutionally protected tribal communities would remain outside its ambit. "The BJP's position on the UCC is longstanding and unequivocal. It is part of our political commitment and election manifesto," Bhattacharya said in a social media post on X. Bhattacharya also rejected allegations that the proposed legislation was linked to family-size regulation, saying such provisions were "neither the objective nor a part of the UCC."
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday passed two Bills amending laws related to Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation amid a walkout by a section of rebel Trinamool Congress MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee. A total of 186 MLAs voted in favour of the Bills, while 17 voted against them. Six members abstained from voting. With the passage of the Bills, the OBC reservation structure has been revised from 17% to 7% in line with Calcutta High Court directives, along with a reorganisation of OBC categories.
The West Bengal backward classes (other than SC and ST) Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Post Amendment Bill, 2026, and the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Amendment Bill, 2026 were introduced by Backward Classes Development Minister Gourishankar Ghosh. The second Bill amends the 1993 law governing the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes.
While presenting the Bills, Ghosh said the government was acting in accordance with the High Court's directions and denied any political motive behind the amendments. “We have removed 113 classes included earlier without conducting any field survey, and retained 66 sub-classes, which were included following various surveys,” Ghosh told in the House. “The Backward Classes commission will conduct inquiries and if it feels any community should be included, it can make recommendations for state government’s considerations. The previous government had bypassed the Commission and that is why the High Court struck down the process,” he said. The second Bill also defines the constitution, powers and responsibilities of the Commission.