NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 12) held commenced hearing on clutch of petitions challenging the three central farm laws passed by the Parliament and removal of protesting farmers from Delhi entry points.
During the hearing, the CJI said, "We're concerned about validity of the farm laws and also about protecting life and property of citizens affected by protests. We are trying to solve the problem in accordance with the powers we have. One of the powers we've is to suspend the legislation and make a committee."
"This committee will be for us. All of you people who are expected to solve the issue will go before this committee. It will not pass an order or punish you, it will only submit a report to us," said CJI.
"We are forming a committee so that we have a clearer picture. We don't want to hear arguments that farmers will not go to the committee. We are looking to solve the problem. If you (farmers) want to agitate indefinitely, you can do so," the bench said.
Advocate ML Sharma, who filed a plea challenging the farm laws, tells the court that farmers have said they will not appear before any committee to be constituted by the court. He told the court that farmers protesting at the Delhi borders have complained that while several people came for discussions on the matter, the Prime Minister did not come."
He told the court, "We cannot ask the Prime Minister to go. He is not a party in the case."
(Inputs from ANI)
