Supreme Court Stays Implementation of Farm Laws, Sets Up Committee for Talks
Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati, Bhupinder Singh Mann of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Anil Ghanwat of Shetkeri Sangthana and Pramod Kumar Joshi will be the members of the committee.
Supreme Court building. Photo: The Wire
Rights12/Jan/2021
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the implementation of the Centre’s three contentious farm laws until further orders, saying it would constitute a committee to end the stalemate between the government and the protesting farmers’ unions.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde proposed agricultural economist Ashok Gulati, Bhupinder Singh Mann of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Anil Ghanwat of Shetkeri Sangthana and Pramod Kumar Joshi as members of the committee. Each of these members, however, have made statements in the past publicly supporting the new laws.
International Policy Head Pramod Joshi
Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati
Maharashtra Shetkari Sanghatana member Anil Ghanwat
The ruling came on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the three farm laws. A detailed order is expected later today. During the hearing, the chief justice said the court will pass an interim order saying the no farmers land can be sold for contract farming till the matter is resolved.
Before pronouncing the order, the bench commenced the hearing and urged the farmers unions to cooperate and go before the committee to be appointed by it to resolve the dispute.
“We are concerned about only the validity of the laws and also about protecting the life and property of citizens affected by protests,” said Justice Bobde. “We are trying to solve the problem in accordance with the powers we have.”