The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Punjab Government to persuade the farmers protesting at the Shambhu border since February 13 to remove tractors and trollies from the road, saying “highways are not parking space”.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the police chiefs of both Punjab and Haryana to hold a meeting along with the Superintends of Police of adjoining Patiala and Ambala districts within one week for partial reopening of the highway at the inter-State Shambhu border.
“We are not directing but we are definitely impressing upon the State of Punjab to immediately persuade the farmers to remove their tractors and trollies. Even parking will create problems. Now, we are seized with the issue and we are keeping it pending till some respectable, amicable and fair and just solution of all the problems are found,” the bench told the Punjab Government.
Underscoring that farmers or the agricultural community don’t face difficulty of any kind, the bench said, “After all, we are also concerned. Both the States are concerned and everybody is concerned about it.”
“The DGPs of Punjab and Haryana and SPs of Patiala and Ambala along with Deputy Commissioners of both the districts are to meet within one week and lay down the modalities for partial opening of highway, initially for the purpose of ambulances, senior citizens, women, girl students, essential services and daily commuters of nearby areas,” the court said.
It said if both sides are able to resolve such modalities, they need not wait for any order of this court and implement the resolution immediately.
It was hearing the Haryana government’s plea challenging the high court order asking it to remove within a week the barricades at the Shambhu border near Ambala where protesting farmers have been camping since February 13.
The Haryana government had set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway in February after the ‘Samyukta Kisan Morcha’ (Non-Political) and ‘Kisan Mazdoor Morcha’ announced that farmers would march to Delhi in support of their demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.
The bench posted the matter for resumed hearing on August 22 and said it will pass an order that day for setting up a multi-member committee which will talk to all the stakeholders and find a solution. “Now that we are intervening to an extent, which normally we don’t do, we intend to constitute a committee which will go at the site, hear them (farmers) and both the state governments. Take the views of all the stakeholders and then suggest a holistic view,” it said.
The bench appreciated the initiative taken by both the Haryana and Punjab governments for suggesting the names of “totally apolitical” people for the proposed panel who have rendered “commendable services” in their respective fields.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Haryana government, requested the bench to stay a direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by which it has ordered a judicial commission to probe the extent of force used by police during a clash between the protesting farmers and Haryana security personnel in February in which a farmer Shubhkaran Singh lost his life. Singh, 21, a native of Bathinda, was killed and several police personnel were injured in clashes at Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border on February 21.
The bench told Mehta that the panel is headed by a retired high court judge which would only increase the fairness and objectivity of the probe. “At most, the committee would make an opinion or give recommendation or both. It will be made to the high court, which has appointed the commission. It may finally come to us, since we are also now seized with the matter. We will look into it,” Justice Kant said.
Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh told the bench that the state has suggested one name for the proposed panel mooted by the apex court.
Mehta said Haryana has suggested a panel of six names for the committee and the court pick those that it wants to be on the panel.
Singh urged the bench to order partial reopening of the the six-lane highway, with one lane each for two-way traffic on an experimental basis as the general pubic was suffering due to the blockade.
The bench said the process of dialogue by the proposed committee and others may take some time, but in the meanwhile, the Punjab government may persuade the protesting farmers to at least remove tractors, trollies and everything else from their side as “highways are not parking space”.
It said, “Both of you (Punjab and Haryana) will have a dialogue regarding the partial opening of the highway one-way or two-way, you both decide. You are the person at the site. You know the ground situation well, we don’t know and we don’t want to rely upon the newspaper information and pass any order, which may unnecessarily create problems.”
