Farmers unions welcomed Supreme Court stay on Farm laws but held apprehension and mentioned that all below four members of the SC appointed committee have all already expressed their support for the new farm laws:
1) Bharatiya Kisan Union Bhupinder Singh Mann,
2) Dr. Pramod Kumar Joshi, agricultural economist
3) Ashok Gulati and
4) President of Shetkari Sanghatana Anil Ghanwat
It is important to note The Hindu had published a report on December 21 in which Ghanwat appealed to the Modi government not to withdraw the laws.
Reacting to the SC pointed Committee members Dinesh Dwivedi, Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court, has said he is ‘bewildered’ at the Supreme Court’s order pronounced on Tuesday in which it imposed a stay on the implementation of the farm laws till further orders and formed a committee to hear stakeholders and submit a report to the court.
“The court should have proceeded with the hearing of the case,” he said
He said that the Supreme Court is supposed to decide a legal dispute legally and constitutionally. He added that he was surprised that till Monday, the court wanted to solve the issue amicably but is now ‘forcing the farmers to listen to the committee’.
Asked about his opinion on the three farm laws, he categorically said they were illegal.
Dwivedi also questioned the inclusion of Ashok Gulati, Infosys Chair Professor for Agriculture at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, in the committee.
“Gulati complimented the Central government for enacting the new farm laws. He believes these are much needed reforms in the country’s agri-marketing system,” Dwivedi said.
Interestingly, all the other three members of the committee have also expressed support for the new farm laws in various forums.
