On 2nd September, the Supreme Court of India ordered the formation of a high-powered committee to hold negotiations between the protesting farmers at the Shambhu border located between the states of Punjab and Haryana. Justice Nawab Singh, former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, will head the committee.
The orders were passed by a two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan in a petition filed by the state of Haryana against the order of the Punjab and Haryana Court ordering the state government to remove the blockade at the Shambhu border. The blockade was erected in February 2024 to prevent the protesting farmers from marching to Delhi.
The Supreme Court bench has urged the committee to talk to the protesting farmers and request them to remove their tractors, trolleys etc. from the Shambhu border at the National Highway. Because of the blockade and tractors, trolleys etc of the farmers, the general public has been suffering for months. Furthermore, the court asked the committee to urge the farmers to move the agitation to an alternate site identified by the authorities. The court also cautioned the farmers to avoid the political parties and said that these protests must not be politicised.
Counsel for Haryana: We have talked to the farmers but there seems to be done ambiguity
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) September 2, 2024
Justice Surya Kant: Please do not politicise this case. We will not say anything more today.
The committee formed by the apex court headed by Justice Nawab Singh also includes retired IPS and former DG of Haryana PS Sandhu, Professor of Eminence at GNCT Amritsar Devender Sharma, and Dr Sukhpal Singh, who is an Agricultural Economist from Punjab Agriculture University. Apart from these members, Professor BR Kamboj, Vice Chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University, Hisar, is a special invitee.
The bench further directed the chairperson to appoint a member secretary of the committee to coordinate meetings and maintain records. Furthermore, the committee chairman has been asked to formulate the issues by convening a meeting along with the states of Punjab and Haryana. The member secretary will place on record the formulated matters within a week after talking to the farmers.
Order: We may at the outset that all names mentioned suggested by Punjab and Haryana are eminent and of high integrity in their specialised field as well knowledgeable of hardships faced by farmers in rural areas. There is a sizeable population of agricultural communities in the…
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) September 2, 2024
The court urged the committee to “keep in mind to reach out to the agitating farmers at the Shambhu Border to impress upon them to immediately remove their tractors, stands and other accessories from and near the National Highway to enable the senior administrators of both the states to open the national highway..”
During the hearing, the court noted that the state administration has provided information on affidavits about the creation of allocated sites where farmers must be shifted for peaceful protests. Justice Kant said that the court has endeavoured to form a body of persons aware of the ground realities of the farmers in the states. He further added that there should be no political interference in the matter.
Justice Kant said, “Those who are aware of the ground reality of both the states, we have tried to make a balanced composition, the farmers have genuine issues, should be dealt by a neutral body, nobody else should be allowed to unnecessarily rake up the issues ….in a democratic setup everybody is allowed to raise their voice, let the committee look into the issues.”
In February 2024, farmers from Punjab started moving towards Delhi to protest against the government of India claiming that the promises made during the last protests were not met. The Haryana government raised barricades to stop the farmers from entering Haryana and moving further to Delhi. Since then, the farmers have been sitting at the Shambhu border. In an impugned order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the Haryana government to remove the barricades. The state approached the Supreme Court which stayed the order. Later, the apex court said that it would form a committee to initiate negotiations between the farmers and the government. The apex court agrees that the borders needed to be opened, at least for access to emergency services across states.
