Farmers' protest: SC says no improvement in situation on ground

New Delhi: As the deadlock over new agricultural laws continues, the Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed disappointment observing that there is no improvement on the ground regarding farmers' protests. The court said it would hear on January 11 a batch of pleas challenging the new farm laws as also the ones raising issues related to the ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi borders. It also sought response of the Centre on a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of newly enacted three farm laws on grounds including that Parliament lacked power to make legislations on the subject.

Chief Justice SA Bobde said that the court's intention was to encourage talks between the government and the protesting farmers. He said, "There's no improvement in the situation at all. We understand the situation and we encourage talks."

The bench was informed by the Centre that healthy discussions are going on between the government and farmers over these issues.

Attorney General K K Venugopal said there is a good chance that parties may come to a conclusion in the near future and filing of response by the Centre on the pleas challenging the new farm laws might foreclose the negotiations between the farmers and government.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, while informing the bench that talks are going on between the government and farmers in a healthy atmosphere , said that these matters should not be listed for hearing on January 8.

We understand the situation and encourage consultation. We can adjourn the matters on Monday (January 11) if you submit the same due to the ongoing consultation process, the bench said.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate M L Sharma challenging the farm laws.

During the hearing, conducted through video-conferencing, the bench asked Mehta to find out the status of other matters and as to when they are listed.

Mehta said that no specific date was given earlier for hearing on these pleas.

We are keeping this plea (filed by Sharma) for hearing on Friday and we allow the amended petition to be taken on record in the meanwhile, the bench said.

Camping at protest venues near Delhi borders for around 40 days, braving severe cold and sporadic rains, farmers have asserted that their stir against the farm laws will intensify in the coming days, even as they deferred Wednesday's proposed tractor march over a bad weather forecast.