SC constitutes committee to resolve protesting farmers' grievances

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 cconomist 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.

The top court said the issues facing the farmers should not be politicised and be considered by the committee in a phased manner.

Noting that both the state governments have identified alternative sites for peaceful agitations, the apex court said the farmers shall be at liberty to shift the venue of their protest there.

The bench said there is a sizeable population of people in Punjab and Haryana who are associated with agriculture, belong to the marginalised sections of society and live below the poverty line.

"Most of them are the strength and backbone of agricultural activities in their villages/areas. We acknowledge their contribution towards the agricultural growth and are of the view that their legitimate aspirations, if not enforceable rights, also deserve empathy and due consideration by the committee, while examining the larger issues which are confronting the farming community in the States of Punjab and Haryana," the bench said.

It also directed the chief secretaries and police chiefs of the two states to provide all logistical support to the committee.

"The ancillary issues like honorarium to be paid to the chairperson and members of the high-powered committee, keeping in view the volume of the work entrusted to them or the apportionment of the expenditure between the two States, will be considered by us in consultation with the chairperson and members of the committee and both the state governments," the bench said while posting the matter for further hearing on October 14.

The member secretary of the committee shall, meanwhile, place on record the interim status report, the bench said.

The court was hearing the Haryana government's plea challenging the high court's order asking it to remove within a week the barricades erected at the Shambhu border near Ambala where protesting farmers have been camping since February 13.

On August 22, the bench had asked the Punjab and Haryana governments to convey to the agitating farmers that the court as well as the two states are concerned about their issues and a forum is being constituted for redressing their grievances.

The Haryana government had set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway in February after the 'Samyukta Kisan Morcha' (Non-Political) and 'Kisan Mazdoor Morcha' announced that farmers would march to Delhi in support of their demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.