The apex court appointed committee has submitted its report over the three farm laws in a sealed cover to the court. According to a Livemint report, the committee has submitted its report after meeting with around 85 farmer organisations and deliberating on the issue for a few months. One of the members of the committee, Anil Ghanwat said, “The report has been submitted in the Supreme Court in a sealed cover envelope on March 19.”
The Hindustan Times reported that the content of the report has not been revealed so far as it is confidential and that the court will hear the matter on April 5. On January 12, the Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices A.S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, had suspended the implementation of the three central farm legislations and directed the formation of a committee to understand the ground situation better.
The court appointed committee consisted of Bhupinder Singh Mann (Bhartiya Kisan Union President), Pramod Kumar Joshi (agricultural economist), Ashok Gulati (agricultural economist and former chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) and Anil Ghanwat (President, Shetkari Sanghathan) for “the purpose of listening to the grievances of the farmers relating to the farm laws and the views of the Government and making recommendations”.
But after the verdict, many farmer leaders said that they remain firm on the decision not to participate in any committee proceedings. They asserted that they will continue their protest until the laws are repealed and a separate legislation guaranteeing Minimum Support Price (MSP) is implemented to safeguard them from the big corporations.
Few days later, one of the members, Bhupinder Singh Mann recused himself from partaking as a member claiming he did not want to compromise the interests of farmers of the country. He issued a press statement saying that while he was thankful that he was appointed to the Committee, he was sacrificing the position offered to him “in view of the prevailing sentiment and apprehensions amongst the farm unions and public in general” and said that he will stand with his farmers and Punjab.
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