New Delhi, February 27 The Supreme Court on Friday asked a high-powered committee, which was constituted to amicably resolve the grievances of the farmers who held a protest at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana in 2024, to submit its report-cum-recommendations.
The farmers were protesting over a range of demands, including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that the matter involving the blockade of highways, particularly at the Shambhu border, has been resolved and vehicles are moving freely there.
"It appears that the matter is now ripe for closure. This can be done after obtaining a report from the high-powered committee containing their brief suggestions, which can then be forwarded to the appropriate authorities," the bench said.
"We urge the committee to submit its report-cum-recommendations...," it added.
The bench said the report-cum-recommendations should be in a sealed envelope, and the committee would not disclose its contents publicly until further orders from the court.
The five-member high-powered committee is headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nawab Singh.
In September 2024, observing that the farmers' protest should not be politicized, the apex court constituted the committee to amicably resolve their grievances.
The top court had said that the issues facing the farmers should not be politicized and be considered by the committee in a phased manner.
The court had passed the order while hearing the Haryana government's plea challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's March 2024 order, asking it to remove within a week the barricades erected at the Shambhu border, near Ambala, where the protesting farmers were camping since February 13, 2024.
The Haryana government had set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway in February 2024, after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha announced that the farmers would march to Delhi in support of their demands.