SC to hear pleas on farm laws today
SC to hear pleas on farm laws today
New Delhi: Five days after it stayed the implementation of the three new agricultural laws till further orders, the Supreme Court will on Monday hear again the pleas relating to contentious laws as well as the ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi borders.
The Apex court will also hear the plea of the central government, filed though the Delhi Police, seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor march or any other kind of protest by farmers which seeks to disrupt the gathering and celebrations of Republic Day on January 26
During the hearing, the Supreme Court may take into account the matter of recusal of a member of the four-member panel set up by it to listen to the grievances and make recommendations to resolve the impasse.
Bhupinder Singh Mann, president of BKU (Mann) and chairman of All India Kisan Coordination Committee had recused himself from the court-appointed panel two days after he was included in it, saying "I will always stand with my farmers and Punjab".
The committee comprised Bhupinder Singh Mann, national president of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Dr Parmod Kumar Joshi, Director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute, Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and Anil Ghanwat, president of Shetkari Sanghatana.
On Saturday, a farmers' organisation approached the Supreme Court urging it to reconstitute the four-member committee appointed by the court to interact with representatives of farmers and government for an amicable resolution of the differences over the new farm laws.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lok Shakti) in its plea pointed out that one of the four members, Bhupinder Singh Mann, has backed out of the committee, and the others — Ashok Gulati, Pramod Kumar Joshi and Anil Ghanwat — have already taken positions in support of the farm laws.
The farmers' body wondered how these three members could submit a report without bias when they had already backed the laws "made and passed by the Central government without enough discussion with farmers".