HOPEFUL of an early resolution to the long-running farmers’ protests on the national capital borders, a key member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel on contentious agri-laws on Wednesday said the report submitted by the committee is “cent per cent” in favour of farmers and the apex court must take up the matter without any delay. The panel member acknowledged that the Government and the Supreme Court have to consider the law and order issue that may arise with the release of the report for which they needed to take time, but “they just cannot dump it and they should not dump it.” Shetkari Sanghatana President Anil J Ghanwat, the panel member who had written to the Chief Justice of India on September 1 urging him to make the report public, also said the committee does not support repeal of the three laws, as being demanded by protesting farmers, but he and his organisation certainly believed that there are “many defects” in the laws that needed to be addressed.

 

It is therefore very important for the apex court to release the report in the public domain at the earliest to clear all apprehensions of farmers, Ghanwat told PTI. It’s been five months since we have submitted our report to the court and I can’t understand what could be the reasons for the court to not take cognisance of the report, he said, and urged the court to release the report at the earliest..In his letter to the CJI, Ghanwat had said, “The report has addressed all apprehensions of the farmers. The committee was confident that the recommendations will pave the way to resolve the ongoing farmers’ agitation.”

 

While suspending the implementation of the three farm laws, the Supreme Court had constituted a Committee on 12th January 2021, to which Ghanwat was nominated as a member to represent the farming community. Other members of the committee are Ashok Gulati, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and Pramod Kumar Joshi from the International Food Policy Research Institute. “As a member of the committee, especially representing the farmers’ community, I am pained that the issue raised by the farmers aren’t resolved and the agitation is continuing. I feel that the report has not been given any attention by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” Ghanwat wrote in his letter.