New Delhi: The Supreme Court bench led by the Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, on Monday refused to pass any order on Delhi police's application seeking directions to stop farmers from entering Delhi on 26th January.
CJI Bobde emphasised that since day one of the hearing the court had made it clear that the question of entering Delhi can not be decided by them and is up to the Delhi police.
The bench also comprising Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Vineet Saran added that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has also been told the same.
The bench said that they have informed the Solicitor General and the Attorney General that who should or should not be allowed, what terms and conditions to be followed, what numbers should be allowed has to be determined by the police and not them.
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"Does the Union Of India want the Supreme Court to say that you have the power under Police Act to deal with this?," questioned CJI Bobde. "We can not be the first authority to determine this," added CJI.
CJI went on saying that the court has not taken charge of the matter the way the government thinks, the court had clarified regarding entry into the city on day one of the hearing.
Adjourning the matter to hear on Wednesday, the court said that it hopes the government has taken a note of their observations.
The court’s observations came during a hearing on the plea filed by Delhi Police, seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor march by farmers on Republic Day.
Pertinent to mention, farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
