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Supreme Court verdict against govt wishes, wanted farm laws to be implemented: Union minister Kailash Choudhary
“The Supreme Court’s decision is against our wishes. We wanted the farm laws to be implemented, not to be put on hold. But we respect and welcome the decision,” Choudhary was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Minister of state for agriculture in the Centre, Kailash Choudhary, said on Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s verdict regarding the three new farm laws was against government’s wishes, adding that it wanted the laws to be implemented and not to be put on hold.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is against our wishes. We wanted the farm laws to be implemented, not to be put on hold. But we respect and welcome the decision,” Choudhary was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The minister also said that the Centre would accept the decision of the apex court to form a committee to resolve the impasse over farm laws.
The Union minister further said that Centre is always ready for talks but it's up to the protesting farmers to take a call whether they wanted to go ahead with the January 15 meeting. Eight rounds of talks have been held till now between the Centre and farmer unions which remained inconclusive. The farmers have stuck to their demand that the laws should be repealed - a proposition rejected by the government.
Choudhary pointed out that the Supreme Court committee is a neutral one and would also fast-track the proceedings to resolve the issues. “The committee will speak to farmers across the country. I believe that this committee will be assured that these laws are in favour of farmers. I also believe the matter will be resolved soon,” he said.
The Supreme Court in a major development on Tuesday, had stayed the implementation of the farm laws till further orders and formed a four-member committee to resolve the standoff. A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde laid down the rules for the committee.
According to an order issued by the bench, the committee should hold the first sitting within 10 days and submit reports within two months from the sitting. The committee would hear the arguments raised by the farmers’ unions and the government. The members of the committee are Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Bhupinder Singh Mann; Shetkeri Sangathana Maharashtra chief Anil Ghanwat; Pramod Kumar Joshi, director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati.
Meanwhile, the protesting farmers said that they won’t accept any committee formed by the court adding that the members of the committee were pro-government and had been justifying the farm laws. “We had said yesterday itself that we won’t appear before any such committee. Our agitation will go on as usual. All the members of this Committee are pro-govt and had been justifying the laws of the Government,” Balbir Singh Rajewal of the BKU said.
