Farmers Movement Archive

SC slams govt over farmers stir, wants laws kept on hold

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday severely criticised the Centre for inept handling of the farm protests and said it would like to keep in abeyance implementation of the contentious farm laws to enable protesting farmers vent their grievances before an SC-constituted expert committee headed by a former CJI. But the court has to await the formal answer to whether the representatives of protesting farmers, who have hardened their opposition demanding nothing except repeal of the laws, will appear before the expert panel to discuss the pros and cons of the laws. Late on Monday evening, the unions opposed to the new farm laws said they would not meet the proposed committee. The court has listed the petitions for passing orders on Tuesday. The farmers have refused to discuss the laws clause by clause with the Centre even as several farm bodies have sought implementation of the new legislations. In court, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for eight farm unions protesting at the Singhu border, said he would have to consult the unions about their willingness to go before the committee. CJI Bobde said, “If you (farmers) have been going to the negotiating table with the government, why won’t you go to the committee set up by the SC? Don’t create this odd argument.” Appearing for the eight unions, senior advocates Dave, H S Phoolka, Colin Gonsalves and advocate Prashant Bhushan welcomed the suggestion to keep implementation of the laws in abeyance, though the Centre said this should not be done without any legal infirmity being established. SG Tushar Mehta said the court’s observations on the government’s handling of the protests were harsh. The bench clarified that its observations were “the most innocuous that could have been made in the fact situation”. The lawyers for the unions informed a bench of CJI S A Bobde, A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian that they would consult the farmers and get back to the court on Tuesday with their views on participating in the proceedings before the committee and whether or not the farmers would hold a tractor rally on January 26. When the Centre sought a restraint order on the tractor rally, the court said it must file an application. The SC asked the parties to suggest names of former CJIs, one of whom could head the committee. Dave suggested the name of Justice R M Lodha, who was earlier assigned by the SC to reform BCCI. The SC asked Dave to take the consent of Lodha and said it had requested ex-CJI P Sathasivam, but he refused because of his limitations with Hindi. The Centre, through attorney general K K Venugopal and Mehta, said the government had done its best to negotiate with the unions, but their representatives were adamant on repeal of laws and refused to spell out what their specific grievances were. The AG said not a single petitioner or farmers’ union had shown anything wrong with the farm laws and that it would be unfair if the SC stayed operation of the laws without anyone expressing any legal infirmity about it. The CJI-led bench was caustic about the manner in which the government had handled the protests. “We are extremely disappointed with the way the government is handling the situation. The whole thing is going on for months. We do not believe you are handling the situation correctly or your negotiations are effective,” it said. “Our initiative is to see whether there can be an amicable solution. Why can't the laws be put on hold? If you (government) do not insist on implementation of the farm laws, we will constitute a committee comprising experts drawn from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),” it said. When the AG said the farmers should go before the committee to discuss their grievances against the farm laws and not demand repeal, the CJI-led bench said, “We are not creating an alternative forum in the committee to protest but for negotiation and resolution of the issue. Whether the law is in public interest or not, the committee will tell us. The committee’s doors will be open to all protesting farmers and pro-farm law groups. All will give their views and grievances. The committee will consider them and give a report. We will accept the report and deal with the farm laws.” When the AG said the committee could go about its work without the court hurrying to stay implementation of the laws, the bench said, "We have given the government a long rope (to sort out the issue). Now, we do not want a lecture on exercising patience (about staying implementation of the laws)." The SG said the government did its best to resolve the situation by earnestly holding talks with the protesting farmers. "Suppose a vast majority of farmers who support the farm laws come on the streets seeking implementation of the laws, what will happen?" he asked. The bench said all sections of farmers would have a chance to put forth their views before the committee.

The Times of India

2021-01-12

India