The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Centre for its ‘failure’ to resolve the 50-day-extended farmers’ protest against the 3 new farm laws and mentioned it may perhaps have to keep the implementation of the contentious laws to develop a far better atmosphere for discussions.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde also mentioned it would constitute a committee headed by a former chief justice to resolve the impasse more than the farm laws.
The order in this regard will be passed on Tuesday.
While the government and a section of legal authorities demurred more than the court’s stance, the agitating farmers mentioned they “welcomed the court’s observations reprimanding the government”, but mentioned they would “still wait for the formal order before jumping into any conclusion”.
The apex court mentioned: “Tell us whether you (government) will put the laws on hold or else we will do it….there is some sense of responsibility in showing that you will not implement the laws…then we can form a committee to look into this. Till then you can continue to put the law on hold”.
Legal authorities pointed out that normally the courts do not interfere with the government’s policy choices, but they added that the court would have to intervene as the deadlock has been continuing for more than a month-and-a-half now.
Refusing to grant additional time to the Centre to discover the possibility of amicable remedy due to the fact it has currently been granted ‘a long rope’, the CJI mentioned: “We don’t see why there is an insistence on implementation of the law…We are not experts on economy and you (Centre) tell us whether you are going to hold on these laws or we will do this (stay/expert committee)”.
While opposing the CJI’s suggestion, lawyer common KK Venugopal mentioned that the selection to keep the laws will be drastic. “These laws cannot be stayed unless they have been enacted without legislative competence, violates fundamental rights or any other provisions of the Indian Constitution,“ the AG said, adding that parties have indicated that discussions will be continued till January 15.
When the AG insisted that laws cannot be stayed, the bench referred to the apex court’s order last year staying the implementation of 2018 Maharashtra law granting reservation to Marathas in education and jobs. It asked Venugopal to give a list of earlier judgments dealing with the issue of stay on implementation of law. The bench said that till date it has not been told anything by the Centre on the proposal given by the top court to keep the implementation of these laws at abeyance for some time. “We are still thinking it is equally important that we stay the implementation of law without staying the laws,” the bench mentioned.
To this, Venugopal mentioned, “This amounts to same thing”.
The bench, also comprising justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, observed, “We are doing this because you have failed to solve the problem. The Union of India has to take the responsibility. The laws have resulted in a strike and now you have to solve the strike”. The bench also mentioned, “Of course, usually we are against stay of any laws”.
Meanwhile, the national executive of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait) met at the protest web page to talk about the SC’s stance and other problems. According to the union, it would meet once again right after the court pronounces the order. “It is worth complimenting that the voice of farmers is echoed in the apex court’s observations. However, we all have to wait for the formal order before jumping into any conclusion,” mentioned Rampal Jat, president of Kisan Mahapanchayat, a different farmer union.
The apex court, which was hearing a clutch of pleas difficult the new farm laws as nicely as the ones raising problems connected to the ongoing agitation at Delhi borders, mentioned it is not speaking about the repeal of these farm laws at the moment. “This is a very delicate situation,” the bench mentioned, adding, “There is not a single petition before us which says that these farm laws are beneficial”.
The eighth round of talks amongst the Centre and the farmer unions on January 7 headed nowhere as the Centre ruled out repealing the contentious laws, though the farmers’ leaders mentioned they are prepared to fight till death and their ‘ghar waapsi’ will take place only right after ‘law waapsi’.
The farmers’ organisations are not enthusiastic about a court-mediated resolution to the situation and have expressed their readiness for additional negotiations with the government.
Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has mentioned it time and get that there are numerous farmer organisations that help the laws and the government will also have to listen to them. During the final Friday’s meeting, for the initial time Tomar is learnt to have categorically told the farmer leaders that “the laws cannot and will not be repealed”. The government was open to taking into consideration ideas from the farmers for a resolution, other than repeal of the laws, the minister had mentioned.
The apex court had earlier issued notice and sought the Centre’s response on a batch of pleas against the 3 contentious farm laws — the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.