New Delhi: As of July 10 evening, the Law Commission received 46 lakh responses on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The deadline for sending views on the matter to the Commission ends on Friday, July 14.The Commission is likely to call certain organisations and people for a personal hearing in the coming days. Invitation letters to this effect have already been sent, news agency PTI quoted sources as saying.On June 14, the 22nd Law Commission had issued a notification to elicit views from various stakeholders – including public and religious organisations – on the matter. It said interested persons or organisations have 30 days of time to submit their views to the Law Commission in the form of consultation/discussion/working papers on any of the issues pertaining to UCC.Even after the 21st Law Commission of India in August 2018 had made it clear that a UCC “is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage“, the 22nd Law Commission issued a fresh notification. The latest panel does refer to the consultation paper published by the previous commission in August 2018 but does not explain the reason for carrying out another round of consultations.“Since more than three years have lapsed from the date of issuance of the said consultation paper, bearing in mind the relevance and importance of the subject and also the various court orders on the subject, the 22nd Law Commission considered it expedient to deliberate afresh over the subject,” the latest notification had said.The members of the 22nd Law Commission defended the latest notification while appearing before a parliamentary committee earlier this month. They said the last commission had brought out its suggestions in 2018 and its term had also come to an end, and that is why, they have begun a fresh initiative which is essentially “informational”.In August 2018, a 185-page consultation paper on “Reforms of Family Law” by the 21st Law Commission had said, “Cultural diversity cannot be compromised to the extent that our urge for uniformity itself becomes a reason for threat to the territorial integrity of the nation.”It was categorically stated that a unified nation does not necessarily need to have “uniformity” and that “efforts have to be made to reconcile our diversity with universal and indisputable arguments on human rights”. Differences do not always imply discrimination in a robust democracy, the government’s top law advisory body had asserted.The UCC is one of the ideological standpoints of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which says that different property and matrimonial laws for people of different religions and denominations are an “affront to national unity“. It has relied on Article 44 of the constitution to push its view. The particular constitutional provision mandates the state to “secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India”.Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong push in its favour at a recent political rally in Bhopal, which has once again spawned a debate on the contentious issue. Modi had said, “Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country be run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights…Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC.”He had further accused the Opposition of opposing the UCC for “vote bank politics”. However, those opposed to the BJP’s position view the UCC as a way for it to target minorities, particularly the Muslim community.