Hopeful of an early resolution to the long-running farmers’ protests on the national capital borders, a key member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel on contentious agri-laws on Wednesday said the report submitted by the committee is “cent percent” in favor of farmers and the apex court must take up the matter without any delay.
The panel member acknowledged that the government and the Supreme Court have to consider the law and order issue that may arise with the release of the report for which they needed to take time, but “they just cannot dump it and they should not dump it.”
Shetkari Sanghatana President Anil J Ghanwat, the panel member who had written to the Chief Justice of India on September 1 urging him to make the report public, also said the committee does not support repeal of the three laws, as being demanded by protesting farmers, but he and his organization certainly believed that there are “many defects” in the laws that needed to be addressed.
“The report must be made public on the earliest. In the event that they do it tomorrow, that can be higher… When the folks will know the content material of the report, they may resolve whether or not the brand new farm laws are in favor of farmers or not,” he mentioned.
It has been 5 months since we have now submitted our report back to the courtroom and I can not perceive what might be the explanations for the courtroom to not take cognizance of the report, he mentioned and urged the courtroom to launch the report on the earliest.
In his letter to the CJI, Ghanwat had mentioned, “The report has addressed all apprehensions of the farmers. The committee was assured that the suggestions will pave the best way to resolve the continuing farmers’ agitation.”
Other members of the committee are Ashok Gulati, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and Pramod Kumar Joshi from the International Food Policy Research Institute.
“As a member of the committee, especially representing the farmers’ community, I am pained that the issue raised by the farmers isn’t resolved and the agitation is continuing. I feel that the report has not been given any attention by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” Ghanwat wrote in his letter.
He said the apex court must release the panel’s report for implementation of its recommendations for “peaceful resolution of the stalemate to the farmers’ satisfaction at the earliest.”
On the possibility of implementing the new laws in a phased manner, Mr. Ghanwat said, “Of course, we can,” but he declined to share if this was one of the recommendations of the committee.
Asked if he plans to write a similar letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and concerned ministers in the government, he said, “No. The mandate for us was given by the Supreme Court. We will tell the court only. There is no relation with the government on this matter. Neither the government-appointed us nor we are answerable to it.”
