All legal options open if state farm Bill refused assent: Manish Tewari

Punjab and few other Congress-ruled states have passed their own farm Bills to bypass the recent central farm law

Manish Tewari, a well-known lawyer and Lok Sabha MP (Congress) from Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, tells Aditi Phadnis state governments are perfectly justified in passing their own farm laws. Edited excerpts:

Laws passed by the Assemblies in Congress-ruled states do not seek to specify an MSP for agri-commodities, instead they extend areas where procurement can be done, thus increasing the scope of tax collection. What’s to stop FCI and other procurement agencies from buying from other states more cheaply?

MSP is fixed by the central government and not state governments. The state advises a state-administered price for some of the crops