The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a joint hearing of the Centre and the farmers' unions in a request to end the deadlock amid the ongoing farmers’ agitation at various Delhi borders.
The Centre's negotiations "do not work and it is bound to fail again," the court said, proposing to form a committee, including the representatives of both the Centre and the farmer unions to arrive at some acceptable solution. The apex court has issued notice to the Centre as well as the Delhi, Punjab and Haryana governments, asking them to respond by tomorrow before winter vacation begins
The top court has scheduled the next hearing on the matter on Thursday.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre that it intends to set up a committee comprising representatives of the government, the Bharatiya Kisan Union and all other stakeholders across India to resolve this issue.
The Centre told the court, "The government was and is ready for negotiations.”
"The difficulty is the farmers' 'yes or no' approach. Different ministers talked to them, but they turned their chairs back and did not talk," added the Centre.
"It appears now some other interests have taken over the farmers protest," the government added, alleging some group of inciting farmers.
"Your negotiation will again fail as they won't agree. Give us the names of organizations that can be before us... This will soon become a national issue and will have solved through negotiations," Justice Bobde added.
"Why farmers associations were not made party to the case and without hearing them, how orders can be passed?" Justice Bobde questioned and asked the Solicitor General to provide the names of the associations to the petitioners.
The bench observed that the situation is alarming and requires urgent resolution measures through negotiations, apprehending that the protest could become a national issue emphasized for solving negotiations through this committee.
A series of petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, both for and against the protest, one seeking removal of farmers, who have blocked various Delhi borders, another asked the court's direction to the Centre to consider the farmers' demands, while another petition wanted farmers to enter Delhi and protest at Jantar Mantar.
One of the petitioners argued that proper care like shelter, sanitation, food should be provided to farmers at the borders.
"Most of these petitions appear to be ill-conceived. We don't see any legal issue except freedom of movement that is admittedly caused by people who are not a party before us," Justice Bobde said.
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The Chief justice told Mehta that the government negotiations may fail, therefore, it is necessary to have some farmer unions appear before the court to explain the matter.
Thousands of farmers have camped on the outskirts of Delhi since November 26, demanding the government scrapping of the three farm laws that they claim will eventually destroy the country's regulated markets and will be exploited by private buyers.