SUPREME COURT’S SUPREME INJUSTICE TO FARMERS
The three farm laws were — The Farmers’ Produce Trade
and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Farmers (Empowerment and
Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and The
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.
Due to continued agitations and blockades by farmers
mostly from Punjab, Supreme Court on January 2020 stayed the implementation of
the three farm laws duly passed by the Legislatures.
After staying the farm laws, the Supreme Court set up
a panel of four distinguished experts to study the aspects of the laws.
The credentials of four members are Ashok Gulati - Agriculture economist, Anil Ghanwat, President of Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra), Pramod Kumar Joshi - International Food Policy Research Institute and Bhupinder Singh Mann - President of a faction of the Bhartiya Kisan Union who later left the panel.
In spite of the intervention of SC by suspending Farm
Laws and appointing Experts Committee to study the Farm Laws passed by the
Central Government in January 2020, the farmer unions continued to block roads
around Delhi and had taken hostage the major arterial roads leading to Delhi
while in many instances violence broke out inside the camps.
Further the protesters stormed the Red fort and
surrounding streets on January 26, 2020, which resulted in riots after the republic
day parade. The Agitators had even hoisted Khalistan’s Flag at Red Fort on the
Republic Day of 2020 much to the shock
and anger of the general public.
On November 19, 2021, in a video address, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi had announced the repeal of the stayed farm laws by Supreme Court.
The Experts’ Committee submitted its report to the apex court on March 19, 2021 in a sealed cover.
Ghanwat, one of the panel members, had said: “We wrote three letters to the apex court requesting them to release the report. But we did not get any response. Hence the report was made public by the experts’ panel.”
Here the Apex Court had miserably failed to render justice on the following counts:
1. SC simply had no locus standi to intervene in farm
laws, duly passed by the legislature. It was a case of blatant judicial
overreach in the domain of legislative & executive branches by the judiciary.
Further the protests were political, none of SC's business! And hence, it
became a perfect case of "tyranny of the unelected" as commented in
the media.
2.
Why SC had
not released the report which was submitted to them on 19th March 2021 in spite
of Experts’ Panel reminding them to release it? It was alleged that SC was
reminded thrice to release the report by the panel.
3. Modi Government, after waiting for 9 long months in
the backdrop of agitations of farmers and no action of SC on the panel’s
report, repealed the so called controversial farm laws on November 19, 2021.
The inaction of SC becomes serious, as the SC appointed panel had reported that
a majority of the farmers' organizations wanted the 3 farm laws to continue and
that it was a "political mistake" to repeal them. Hence as a
corollary, SC was solely responsible for forcing Modi to repeal 3 farm laws
which according to experts’ panel are most beneficial to the farmers’
communities.
4. The following statement of Anil Ghanwat, member of
the panel was a direct hit on the SC:
"Had the
Supreme Court published the
Committee’s Report upon
receipt, it could have educated
protesting farmers
about the benefits of the
farm laws and potentially prevented the
repeal of these
laws.“ Hence SC is answerable to the nation for its
failure to help the farming
communities.
There are further more revealing statements in the now released report of the panel.
According to Ghanwat, it was a
great political mistake on part of the Modi government to repeal these laws.
According to the report of the panel, out of 73 farmer unions representing 3.83 crore farmers, 61 organisations had supported the farm laws. Only four unions representing 51 lakh farmers had opposed them, and the rest 7 unions wanted some amendments in the laws. However, the panel informed that the farmer organisations leading the protests in Delhi didn’t attend the interactive sessions with the committee, despite repeated invites sent to them. 40 unions, which had organised agitations against the laws under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), didn’t made any representations to the SC-appointed panel.
Most important factor as revealed in the panel report is that by backing Singhu farmers Opposition who were in minority, 87% of India's farmers who backed Modi's reform were denied their chance to double their incomes.
The panel report has remarked that Farmers, mainly from north India, who protested against these laws and got them repealed, will now realise that they have harmed themselves and lost an opportunity to increase their incomes.
Further Ghanwat said: “A repeal or a long suspension of these farm laws would be unfair to the silent majority who support the legislations.”
In short, most farmers’ bodies wanted 3 farm laws to stay, but, SC’s failures to make the panel report public had pushed Modi Government to repeal its own laws duly passed as per the Constitutional provisions.
Hence SC can be made accountable for “JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED” solely due to Apex Court’s failures of action or inaction – both ways.
E-Touch wants to remind SC of its Himalayan blunders by honouring them with a crown of thorn and presenting a whip for its self-punishment.
Comments