SC panel to resolve grievances of protesting farmers

New Delhi : Observing that farmers’ protest should not be politicised, the Supreme Court on Monday constituted a high-powered committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh to amicably resolve the grievances of farmers agitating at the Shambhu border.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the five-member committee to convene its first meeting within a week and reach out to the agitating farmers to persuade them to immediately remove their tractors, trolleys etc. from the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana to provide relief to commuters. Both the Punjab and Haryana governments will be free to give suggestions to the committee, it added.

The farmers are agitating over a plethora of demands including legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.

“We hope and trust that one of the major demands of the agitating farmers regarding constitution of a neutral high-powered committee having been accepted with the consent of both the States, they will immediately respond to the request of the high-powered committee and will vacate the Shambu border or the other roads connecting the two States without any delay.

“This gesture will provide huge relief to the general public who are facing extreme hardships due to the blockade of the highways. It will also facilitate the high-powered committee and both the States to consider the farmers’ genuine and just demands in a dispassionate and objective manner,” the bench said. The committee also comprises retired IPS officer B S Sandhu, Mohali resident Devinder Sharma, professor Ranjit Singh Ghuman and Dr Sukhpal Singh, agricultural economist from the Punjab Agriculture University. Asking the panel to formulate the issues for consideration, the bench also directed its chairperson to invite professor B R Kamboj, Vice Chancellor of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, as special invitee as and when his expert opinion is needed.

“The chairperson may appoint a Member Secretary to the High-powered Committee for the purpose of coordinating amongst the members of the Committee, convening the meetings and maintaining records, etc,” it said. The Member Secretary of the committee shall place on record the proposed issues for which the committee may also consider the scope of its delineation, it added.

It also advised the protesting farmers to distance themselves from political parties, political issues, and to not insist on demands which are not feasible to be accepted outright. “In other words, all their issues will be considered in a phased manner by this court after taking into consideration the recommendations that may be made by the committee,” it added.