Supreme Court panel to hold talks with agitating farmers on January 3

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court appointed high-powered committee headed by former judge of Punjab and Haryana HC Nawab Singh will hold further talks with the agitating farmers on Jan 3 and an invitation has been sent to them for a virtual meeting.
The court had in Sept constituted the independent and neutral panel to hold talks with them to end the deadlock and address their problems. Other members of the panel are former Haryana DGP B S Sandhu; agri-expert Devinder Sharma, Prof of Eminence at GNDU (Amritsar) Ranjit Singh Ghumman, and Punjab Agricultural University (Ludhiana) agricultural economist Dr Sukhpal Singh.
The farmer’s representatives confirmed that they received the invitation for Jan 3 virtual meeting. SC on Saturday expressed its displeasure over Punjab government stand of “helplessness” in hospitalising farmer Jagjit Singh Dallewal who is on a fast-on-to-death at Shambhu border.
While setting up the committee, the court had asked it to reach out to the agitating farmers at Shambhu border to impress upon them to immediately remove their tractors/trolleys, tents and other accessories, etc from and near national highway to enable civil and police administration of both states to open the NH.
“We hope and trust that with one of the major demands of the agitating farmers regarding constitution of a neutral high-powered committee having been accepted with consent of both states, they will immediately respond to the request of the committee and vacate Shambhu border or other roads connecting the two states without any delay. This gesture will provide huge relief to the general public who are facing extreme hardships due to the blockade. It will also facilitate the committee and both states to consider the farmers’ demands in a dispassionate and objective manner,” the bench had said.
“We caution the agitating farmers to keep themselves at a safe distance from political parties, political issues, and not to insist on such demands which are not feasible to be accepted outrightly,” it had said.