Supreme Court may form panel to break deadlock on farmers’ stir

The Supreme Court indicated on Wednesday that it form a committee having representatives of the government and the farmer unions across the country to resolve the deadlock over the three new farm laws that have triggered widespread protests and resulted in the blocking of highways leading to the national capital.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde, and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued a notice to the Centre and others on a batch of petitions seeking removal of farmers camping at several roads near Delhi borders in protest against the three new laws.

In a hearing conducted via video conferencing, the bench directed the petitioners to make protesting farmer unions parties to the pleas and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday. The petitioners cited the Shaheen Bagh judgment which barred protesters from blocking roads.

"Your negotiations with protesting farmers have not worked apparently till now," the bench told the Centre

Meanwhile, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that the government will not do anything against the interest of farmers.

A number of pleas have been filed in the SC seeking a direction to authorities to immediately remove the farmers on the grounds that commuters are facing hardships due to the blocking of roads and the large gatherings may lead to a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases..