To peacefully defuse the farmers’ protests that have been running for the past few months, the Supreme Court has formed a high-powered committee with Justice Nawab Singh, a retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, as chairman. This decision comes at a time when the court also pointed out the importance of not politics the farmer’s problems.
In their learned order, the Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan bench directed the committee meeting to be conducted with the first sitting in a week. The panel is expected to negotiate with the protesting farmers to convince them to get their tractors and trolleys off the Shambhu border that divides Punjab and Haryana to prevent further delay in other commuters’ way.
The committee members are retired IPS officer PS Sandhu, Sukhpal Singh, an agriculture economist from Punjab Agricultural University, and two experts, Devender Sharma and Ranjeet Singh Ghuman. The bench also directed the chairman of the said committee to seek the help of Professor BR Kamboj, the vice-chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, whenever required.
The court warned farmers to avoid political associations and not to be greedy when making demands that are hardly achievable. They reaffirmed the message that problems should be addressed without the intervention of the political aspect and suggested that the farmers move to other locations with their peaceful demonstrations.
This ruling was made during the hearing of the Haryana government’s application against the high court direction directing the removal of barriers placed at the Shambhu border, where farmers have been protesting since February 13. Protests started when farmers wanted to reach Delhi to press the need for legal MSP for crop growers, who put up barriers.
