Has the SC overruled democracy? Farm laws implementation suspended, committee formation ordered

The Supreme Court of India has decided that it will form a committee to resolve the current stand off over the farmer protests. The committee will be part of judicial proceedings. “We believe in the Committee and we are going to constitute it. This Committee will be the part of judicial proceedings,” CJI Bobde told the Attorney General.

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The CJI also said that the Supreme Court has the power to suspend the law but “the suspension of legislation must not be for an empty purpose.” It was also insisted that every party that seeks a resolution to the matter must appear before the Committee.

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Responding to the news that farmers had decided to not appear before the Committee, CJI Bobde said, “We don’t want to hear an argument that farmers will not go to the committee. We are looking to solve the problem. If you want to agitate indefinitely, you can.”

AP Singh, appearing for BKU-Bhanu, said that farmers had agreed to send senior citizens back home after hearing the concerns of the Court. The Court also appreciated the stand that the elderlies, women and children will not participate in the current protests.

Senior Advocate Harish Salve said that nobody is interested in the judicial process. He said, “I don’t know who ML Sharma represents. He has filed a petitioner in person and says negative things. We don’t have Dave, Phoolka and Colin Gonsalves today, though they said they represent nearly 400 protesters. This is really concerning.”

A petitioner also remarked that banned outfits have infiltrated the protests. The Court asked the Attorney General to confirm whether it was true, to which he replied that he had already stated that Khalistanis were involved.

AP Singh also said that they want retired Justices Kurian Joseph and Markandeya Katju to be part of the Committee but the CJI did not appear too enthusiastic about that.

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In the end, the implementation of the three laws were suspended. “We are going to suspend the implementation of the three farm laws until further orders,” it was announced. Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati, Harsimrat Mann, Pramod Joshi are some names that were mentioned by the CJI as committee members.