New Delhi, Jan. 12, (dpa/GNA) – India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday put on hold the implementation of three new agricultural laws against which tens of thousands of farmers have been holding a nearly 50-day agitation.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde also said it was forming a committee to take over negotiations with farmers to end the crisis.
“We are going to suspend the implementation of the three farm laws until further orders,” Bobde was quoted as saying by the legal news portal Live Law.
“We believe in the committee and we are going to constitute it. This committee will be part of judicial proceedings,” he added.
The move comes as a huge setback for the government that has argued that the laws passed by parliament in September will modernize farming and allied sectors and increase the incomes of farmers.
The government had in eight rounds of talks with farmers’ unions over the past month refused to accede to their demand for repeal of the laws.
The farmers fear the laws that aim to ease regulations around storage and marketing of crops will benefit big corporations and leave them at the mercy of the free market.
Farmers’ unions spearheading the agitation say that the laws would lead to the end of state-regulated buying of crops and a minimum price set by government for their produce.
GNA