Shambhu border: SC constitutes committee to amicably resolve grievances of protesting farmers

Observing that the issue of farmers' protest should not be politicised, the Supreme Court on Monday, 2 September constituted a high-powered 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.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the committee to convene its first meeting within a week and asked the panel to reach out to the agitating farmers to immediately remove their tractors, trolleys etc. from the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana to provide relief to commuters.

Both the Punjab and the Haryana governments will be free to give suggestions to the committee, it added.

The committee also comprises retired IPS officer P S Sandhu, Devender Sharma, professor Ranjit Singh Ghuman and Dr Sukhpal Singh, Agricultural Economist from the Punjab Agriculture University.

Asking the high-powered committee to formulate the issues for consideration, the bench also directed the chairman of the panel to invite professor B R Kamboj, Vice Chancellor of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, as special invitee as and when his expert opinion is necessitated.

It also cautioned the protesting farmers to keep themselves at a safe distance from political parties and not to insist on demands which are not feasible.

The top court said the farmers' issues should not be politicised and be considered by the committee in a phased manner.

The apex court said farmers will be at liberty to shift their peaceful agitations to alternative sites.

The court was hearing the Haryana government's plea challenging the high court's order asking it to remove within a week the barricades erected at the Shambhu border near Ambala where protesting farmers have been camping since 13 February.

On 22 August, the bench had asked the Punjab and Haryana governments to convey to the agitating farmers that the court as well as the two states are concerned about their issues and a forum is being constituted for the redressal of their grievances.

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 minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.