NEW DELHI: Asking the Centre whether it could put in abeyance its three farm sector reform laws till negotiations with the agitators are on, the Supreme Court on Thursday said farmers have a constitutional right to continue their protest as long as their dissent does not lead to any kind of violence.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde asked Attorney General K K Venugopal whether the government could give an assurance to keep the implementation of the farm laws on hold.
While Venugopal said he will have to seek instructions as he was not sure if this was a viable solution, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that it was not possible to put the implementation of the laws on hold.
Refusing to order the eviction of farmers from Delhi’s borders, the court said: “A protest is constitutional as long as it does not cause violence or destroy life. It can continue while the committee we propose can hold deliberations. We are likely to propose names like P Sainath for the committee.”
CJI Bobde added, “We are also Indian, we are familiar with the plight of farmers and are sympathetic to their cause. You (farmers) have to only alter the way the protest is going.”
The Punjab government, represented by P Chidambaram, supported the proposal to form a committee. The bench gave liberty to all parties to approach the court during winter vacations.
Four-member committee
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmers unions, decided to form a four-member internal committee to deal with all issues arising from the Supreme Court’s intervention in the protest under the leadership of Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of BKU (Rajewal).
Ready for talks: Tikait
Bharatiya Kisan Union national president Naresh Tikait said, “We are ready for dialogue. If the government takes two steps back, the farmers will follow suit. We respect everything that the Supreme Court has stated. Whatever panel is formed, sensible people should be on it”.