SC Constitutes Panel To Amicably Resolve Grievances Of Protesting Farmers At Shambhu Border

A panel comprising former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh was set up by the Supreme Court to resolve the grievances of protesting farmers at the Shambhu border. The apex court urged the farmers to desist from politicising their stir or making unreasonable demands.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday established a committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh to amicably resolve the grievances of protesting farmers at the Shambhu border and asked the farmers to desist from politicising their agitation or making unreasonable demands.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the committee to convene its first meeting within a week. The apex court asked the committee to formulate issues in connection with the concerns of farmers over minimum support price (MSP) and other issues.

When they met with the committee members, the apex court also asked the farmers to desist from politicising their agitation or making unreasonable demands. The bench said farmers will be at liberty to shift their peaceful agitations to alternative sites.

The committee will consist of Justice Nawab Singh, PS Sandhu, former DG of Haryana, Devender Sharma, Dr Sukhpal Singh, an agricultural economist from Punjab Agriculture University and special invitee Professor BR Kambhoj, Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University.

The bench urged the committee to keep in mind the reach out to the agitating farmers at the Shambhu Border to impress upon them to remove their tractors immediately, stands and other accessories from and near the national highway to enable the senior administrators of both the states to open the national highway.

The apex court was hearing a plea by the Haryana government against the order passed by Punjab and Haryana High Court asking it to remove within a week the barricades erected at the Shambhu border near Ambala where protesting farmers have been camping since February 13.

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