Shambhu Border Blockade | Supreme Court Forms Committee To Negotiate With Protesting Farmers, Says Issue Shouldn't Be Politicised

The Supreme Court on Monday (September 2) ordered the constitution of a High-Powered Committee to hold negotiations with the farmers who are protesting at the Shambhu border between the States of Punjab and Haryana.

The committee will be headed by Justice Nawab Singh, Former Judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order in a petition filed by the State of Haryana against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to remove the blockade at the Shambhu border (which was erected by Haryana to prevent the protesters from marching to Delhi).

The bench urged the Committee to reach out to and request the agitating farmers to remove their tractors, trolleys etc from the Shabmhu border at the National Highway so as to provide relief to the general public. The protesters are at liberty to shift their agitation to an alternate site identified by the authorities.

The bench cautioned the farmers to stay away from political parties and observed that the farmers' protest must not be politicized.

"We caution the agitating farmers to keep themselves at a safe distance from the political parties, political issues, and not to insist on such demands which are not feasible to be accepted outrightly."

The bench observed that there is a sizeable population of agricultural communities in the two states that belong to marginalised communities and living below the poverty line, and deserve empathy. Hence, the bench said that it felt that a neutral committee be constituted to look into their issues.    

The committee members are :

I. Justice (Retd.) Nawab Singh, Former Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court – Chairperson;

II. Shri B.S. Sandhu, IPS (Retd.) former Director General of Police, Haryana, who otherwise hails from the State of Punjab - Member

III. Sri Devinder Sharma, – Member;

IV. Prof. Ranjit Singh Ghumman, Prof. of Eminence at GNDU, Amritsar (Punjab) and Prof. (Economics) at CRRID – Member;

V. Dr. Sukhpal Singh, Agricultural Economist, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana -- Member

VI. Special Invitee - Professor BR Kambhoj, Vice Chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University , Hisar 

The bench further directed : (1) The Chairperson to appoint a member secretary of the High Powered Committee to co-ordinate meetings and maintain records; (2) To formulate the issues by convening a meeting along with the states of Punjab and Haryana.  

The Court also requested the committee to "to reach out to the agitating farmers at the Shambhu Border to impress upon them to immediately remove their tractors, stands and other accessories from and near the National Highway so as to enable the senior administrators of both the states to open the national highway.." 

The Court also noted that the state administration has on affidavit informed of the creation of allocated sites where the farmers shall be shifted for a peaceful agitation.  Justice Kant also expressed that the Court has endeavoured to compose a body of persons who are well aware of the ground realities of the farmers in the states and reiterated the need to restrain political interference in the matter. 

"Those who are aware of the ground reality of both the states, we have tried to make a balanced composition, the farmers have genuine issues, should be dealt by a neutral body, nobody else should be allowed to unnecessarily rake up the issues ....in a democratic set up everybody is allowed to raise their voice, let the committee look into the issues," Justice Kant said.

The Court has directed the member secretary to place on record the formulated issues within 1 week after consulting the farmers. 

To recap briefly, the Court was hearing Haryana's plea against Punjab and Haryana High Court's direction to unblock the Shambhu Border between the States of Punjab and Haryana. The border was closed in February this year due to farmers' protests, raising demands such as a statutory guarantee for the Minimum Support Price for crops.

Previously, both the states had submitted a list of names of persons to the Supreme Court who could be included in the panel proposed to be formed by the Court to hold negotiations with the protesters and the government. Apart from this, the Court had directed the Director Generals of Police of Punjab and Haryana, along with the Senior Superintendent of Police of Patiala and Ambala, and Deputy Commissioners of both districts to hold a meeting to lay down the modalities for partial opening of the highway. This was for some essential purposes including for ambulances, senior citizens, women, students, and any commuters of the nearby area.

On August 22, the Court had asked Punjab and Haryana to submit proposed issues that shall be the subject matter of reference for the panel/Committee. It was clarified that the reference to the committee will be a wider mandate so that the issues which are time and again causing law and order problems can be amicably resolved in a fair and just manner.

Background

The impugned order directed the Haryana government to unblock Shambhu border, which was closed in February this year to prevent the movement of protesting farmers from Punjab to Haryana. Against this order, the State of Haryana approached the top Court.

Previously, the Court had asked the States of Haryana and Punjab to suggest the names of neutral persons who could be included in a committee to negotiate with the protesting farmers. Besides this, the Bench had emphasized on a need to inspire confidence in the farmers.

Further, the Court had agreed to the suggestion that the border needs to be opened, at least for access to emergent services across the states. An ambulance carrying patients or a car carrying senior citizens cannot be prevented from passing, Justice Kant had said orally.

The Court had suggested that in emergent cases, the police personnel deployed on both sides (Haryana and Punjab) can coordinate amongst themselves so that the vehicles are allowed to pass.

Case Details: The State of Haryana v. Uday Pratap Singh, SLP(C) No. 15407-15410/2024 

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 642

Click here to read the order