The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed concern over the on-going farmers protest against the recently enacted three farm laws at various Delhi borders.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde told Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta and Attorney General (AG) K.K. Venugopal, representing the Centre, "There is absolutely no improvement in the situation."
Mehta submitted that the Centre is in discussion with the farmers to resolve their issues with the laws and since healthy talks are going on between the farmers and Centre, it would not be advisable to take up the matters immediately.
The AG said the filing of response by the Centre may close avenues of negotiations underway between the farmers and Centre.
Venugopal added that there is a possibility that parties involved in the discussion may come to a conclusion in the near future.
The bench also comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian agreed with AG and SG submissions, and said if it is told on Monday (January 11) that discussions are still underway, then it would adjourn the hearing.
"We understand the situation. We want to encourage the talks. We will keep the matter on Monday and will adjourn if you say so", said the Chief Justice.
The farmers' protest against the three farm laws has been going on for more than a month.
The observations from the top court came during the hearing on a petition filed by advocate M.L. Sharma who challenged a 1954 amendment to the Constitution for putting agriculture in the concurrent list, which permitted the Centre to enact the farm laws. The top court issued a notice on Sharma's plea.
What are the petitions?
As about six petitions have been submitted to the SC challenging the constitutional and legal validity of the tree agricultural laws. While two PILs have been filed seeking removal of the protesting farmers from Delhi borders as its creating traffic and troubles for commuters.
Multiple petitions have also been filed related to the "violation of human rights" of protesting farmers.
Next Centre-Farmers meeting on January 8.
The deadlock continues even after the seventh round of talks, as the farmers continue to remain adamant with their demands of scrapping the three farm laws and the government assuring the farmers about the various benefits of the new Bills.
The next meeting between the Centre and farmers is scheduled to take place on January 8.
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Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other parts of the country have been camping at several Delhi border points since November 28, demanding the repeal of the farm laws, a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops and other two issues.
Farmers have affirmed that their agitation will intensify against the laws in coming days, even though they postponed Wednesday’s proposed tractor march over a bad weather forecast.