Says it will set a multi-member expert committee within a week to amicably resolve the farmers’ grievances ‘for all times’

ribune News Servicet

New Delhi, August 22

As deadlock continued on reopening of the Shambhu border where farmers have been camping since February, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the governments of Punjab and Haryana to hold further meetings with protesting farmers to persuade them to remove their tractors and trolleys to allow the passage of ambulances, senior citizens, women, students, essential services and commuters.

At the outset, Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh informed a three-judge Bench led by Justice Surya Kant that in terms of its August 12 order officials of the two states held a meeting with the farmers who have agreed to partial reopening of the blocked highway but they insisted on marching towards Delhi with their tractors and trollies.

The Bench – which also included Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan — asked the two state governments to keep engaging with the protesting farmers and persuade them to remove their tractors and trollies from the highway in order to allow the passage of ambulances, senior citizens, women, students, essential services and commuters.

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While hearing the Haryana Government’s petition challenging the July 10 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court requiring it to remove within a week the barricades at the Shambhu border, the Bench asked Punjab Advocate General Singh and Haryana senior Additional Advocate General Lokesh Sinhal to inform it by the next date about the progress made in the talks with farmers.

Noting that it would set a multi-member expert committee within a week to amicably resolve the farmers’ grievances “for all times”, the Bench asked the governments of Punjab and Haryana to submit tentative issues concerning farmers for consideration of the committee.

The top court also allowed the Punjab Government to submit two-three additional names of “apolitical” and “neutral” persons to be included in the proposed expert committee after Singh said Punjab has suggested the name of one expert and it would like to submit a few more names.

Maintaining that its August 2 interim order to the governments of Punjab and Haryana not to precipitate the situation at the Shambhu border would continue, the Bench posted the matter for September 2.

On August 12, the Supreme Court had ordered the Director Generals of Police of Punjab and Haryana along with the Senior Superintendent of Police of Patiala and Ambala and the Deputy Commissioners of the two districts to hold a meeting within one week for partial opening of the Shambhu border.

“If both sides (Punjab and Haryana) are able to resolve such modalities, they need not wait for any order from this court and let such a resolution be directed immediately, ” the Bench had said.

Before meeting the farmers, DGPs and senior officials of the two states held a meeting on the issue as directed by the top court, the Bench was informed on Thursday.

The Haryana government set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway in February after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha announced a farmers’ march to Delhi in support of their demands, including legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce.

Maintaining that farmers have a right to voice their grievances, the Supreme Court had on August 2 asked the governments of Punjab and Haryana not to precipitate the situation at the Shambhu border near Ambala where farmers have been camping since February. “In a democratic set-up, yes, they have a right to voice their grievances. Those grievances can be voiced at their place also,” it had said.

Highlighting the “trust deficit” between the government and the protesting farmers, Justice Kant had said the issues could be resolved through negotiations.

More than five months after the “unlawful sealing of the border between Haryana and Punjab” to prevent farmers from “protesting peacefully”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had on July 10 directed the state of Haryana to open the Shambhu border on an experimental basis to prevent inconvenience to the general public.

Maintaining that law and order was a state subject under the Constitution, the Haryana Government has contended it’s entirely the state’s responsibility to assess ground realities, threat perception, likelihood of breach of peace and violation of law.