Who is Justice RC Chavan? Former Bombay HC judge who quit Maharashtra UCC bench — Here’s why he quit | Today’s news
Former Bombay High Court judge RC Chavan has resigned as a member of the Maharashtra Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Committee, the Indian Express reported on Tuesday. He reportedly tendered his resignation on September 19, hours after the commission held an online meeting. The state government accepted it on Monday.
In July, a seven-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai was formed to draft a Uniform Civil Code for the state. Other members of the committee include former Bombay High Court judges Justice RC Chavan and Justice SG Mehare.
Former Chief Secretary of Maharashtra DK Jain and former Advocate General of Maharashtra Virendra Saraf, Padma Shri awardee and constitutional expert Ramesh Patange and educationist and social activist Suvarna Rawal were also members of the committee, according to PTI.
Who is Justice (Retired) RC Chavan?
Born on 12 April 1952, Justice RC Chavan joined the judicial service as 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 Additional District and Sessions Judge in March 1987, according to his profile on the government website.
Justice Chavan served as Additional District and Sessions Judge in Jalgaon and Thane and Joint District and Sessions Judge in Nashik.
He was appointed Joint Director, Judicial Officers Training Institute, Nagpur and served as such from 1990 to 1994.
He also served as District and Session Judge in Nanded, Aurangabad, Daman and Diu and Pune.
He served as Additional Registrar, Registrar and First Registrar General of the Bombay High Court and was elevated as a Judge of the Bombay High Court on 22 June 2005 and served until 2013.
Justice Chavan also pioneered the electronic court system in India and is known for his insightful judicial contributions. The right Foundation.
On 19 November 2012, he was appointed as a Judge of the Special Court of Torts (TORTS) in Mumbai. He joined as the Chairman of the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
After his retirement as a High Court judge, he entered the field of literature and wrote two books ‘Cries in Wilderness’ and ‘More Cries in Wilderness’ in which he expressed his candid views on various aspects of law and judiciary.
He recently wrote the novel “Yes My Lords, It’s You In The Mirror”, which is the story of four friends’ journey in the judiciary. He is currently working on his next literary title – “Who Killed Rule Of Law”.
Why did RC Chavan resign from the Maharashtra UCC panel?
Justice (retired) RC Chavan’s resignation came after the second meeting of the Maharashtra Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Committee was held on September 19.
In his email to the committee, Justice Chavan said, according to the Indian Express, that one of the agendas of the meeting was to finalize a questionnaire for public feedback on the UCC.
He reportedly wrote: “Three members tried to formulate their views, such as that respondents only had to answer yes or no, or the need to have the questionnaire quickly peer-reviewed by professors under the supervision of member Dr Suvarna Rawal.”
“Dear Chairperson has already sent her the finalized questionnaire and stated that it will be uploaded as soon as the website is ready. The third and last agenda item for today’s meeting is thus over. Therefore, I have opted out to save time and internet,” the Indian Express said.
“My attempt to present my views even though the questionnaire completed by the Honorable Chairman had already been sent was due to my misunderstanding that our exercise was aimed at gathering the views of the people of Maharashtra and building a consensus to rectify the problems of late marriages, perversions, infertility, unstable marriages, time-consuming dispute resolution mechanism etc,” he reportedly said.
“Now that it’s been removed, I realize the goal is just to provide an opportunity for people who may be interested to share their yes or no answers to the questions asked to make data analysis easy,” he said.
The email also claimed that a non-member attended the meeting. The non-member said the website prepared by state officials needed further modifications and the committee chairman directed the authorities to make the necessary changes within a week, Justice Chavan said.
He said he doesn’t know where the person fits in, adding that the nonmember’s suggestion made him speculate that state officials may feel incompetent. “To resolve this issue, I am vacating my seat on the committee by resigning now so that the government can quickly fill the vacancy,” he said, adding that as a free citizen he would be free to express his views. “It was a great learning experience on a subject close to my heart,” he said.
The three-point agenda for the meeting included confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting held last month and a discussion on the website for feedback and opinion on the UCC.
