Supreme Court Forms Panel To Resolve Farmer Protests At Shambhu Border

On September 2, the Supreme Court of India constituted a committee to address the grievances of farmers protesting at the Shambhu border. The panel, led by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh, aims to find an amicable resolution to the ongoing dispute and has been instructed to start its work within a week.

The court, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, emphasized that the committee should focus on issues related to farmers’ demands, such as the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and other concerns. Additionally, the court advised farmers to avoid politicizing their protests and making unreasonable demands. It also offered farmers the option to relocate their peaceful protests to alternative sites.

The committee includes Justice Nawab Singh, PS Sandhu, former Director General of Haryana Police, Devender Sharma, an agricultural economist, Dr. Sukhpal Singh from Punjab Agriculture University, and Professor BR Kambhoj, Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University. Their task is to engage with the protesting farmers and facilitate the removal of tractors and other equipment from the national highway to allow for its reopening.

This development follows a plea by the Haryana government challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order to dismantle barricades at the Shambhu border. These barricades were set up in February after the ‘Samyukta Kisan Morcha’ and ‘Kisan Mazdoor Morcha’ organized a march to Delhi, demanding a legal guarantee for MSP.

The Supreme Court’s intervention aims to de-escalate the situation and find a resolution that addresses the farmers’ concerns while restoring normalcy to the affected area.