India: Supreme Court slams Centre over farm protests, proposes to form panel

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The Supreme Court on Monday expressed its extreme disappointment with the way Centre has handled farmers agitation over the new farm laws. The court also expressed concern over the state of agitating farmers who have been camping on the outskirts of the capital for more than a month.

While proposing to form a committee of experts on farm laws, the court said it will pass orders on the issue concerning farmers protests and implementation of new farm laws in parts.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde also made a personal request to the senior citizens among the agitating farmers to return home.

Supreme Court said, assuring farmers that their concerns will not go unheard and court will fulfil its duty. Whether you have faith or not, we are the Supreme Court of India, we will do our job. The court granted enough time to the government to reach a negotiation but it has remained adamant on the farm laws. We are sorry to say that Centre has not been able to solve the problem and the farmers agitation. We don't know whether you are part of the solution or part of the problem. There is not a single petition before us which says that these farm laws are beneficial to farmers. Our intention was to see a negotiated solution but there has been no response from Centre on willingness to put farm laws on hold. We are not experts on the economy; you tell us whether government is going to put on hold farm laws or we will do this. We don't know whether people are observing social distancing but we are concerned about them (farmers) getting food and water.The matter is getting worse, suicides are taking place. Are you taking care of their food, health and other issues. Why are the protesting farmers keeping old persons at protest site? The peaceful protests can go awry because of any stray incident and everyone has a responsibility to ensure that things don't go wrong. We don’t want anyone's blood on our hands. Central government have not been able to solve the problem. Centre must take responsibility. As its laws led to strike, it must solve it. Now farmers will tell the Committee their views.

On the primary demand of the agitating farmers to repeal the farm laws, the court reiterated the need for a committee on farm laws and said that it will stop their implementation if the panel advises. The committee will include experts from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The court suggested the names of former CJIs including RM Lodha to head panel for exploring the possibility of a solution over farm laws protests.