courtesy HT JAN 7

Talks healthy, closer to resolution, govt tells SC
Court defers hearing into matter from Jan 8 to Jan 11 on Centre’s request; farm unions still say want full repeal of the 3 laws

Farmers march towards Delhi in their tractors in Amritsar on Wednesday. SAMEER SEHGAL/HT
Utkarsh Anand

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : The central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that an “understanding” could be in sight with the farmers’ unions over the contentious agricultural laws, even as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) lamented that there was “no improvement in the situation”.

CJI SA Bobde, however, also said that the top court has always encouraged talks, and that the legal adjudication surrounding the farm laws and farmers’ protests could wait if there was the possibility of a breakthrough. The court said it would take up the matter on January 11 but could defer the hearing in case there was some progress in talks.

The statement by the government suggesting a headway in negotiation has come two days after the seventh round of talks between the Centre and farm leaders ended in a stalemate. The three Union ministers part of the negotiations had suggested it was not possible to commit to a rollback of the laws without wider consultations with higher authorities. The farm unions had rejected this position, and said they would enhance their agitation -- a large tractor rally has been planned on the outskirts of the Capital on Thursday. Both sides, however, agreed to continue the talks on January 8.

On Wednesday, the CJI-led bench was hearing a plea by petitioner-advocate ML Sharma, who has challenged the laws on the ground that Centre lacked power to legislate on the issues directly relating to agriculture produce, its trade and market.

The bench, which also included justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, told Sharma that his petition could also be heard along with another batch of petitions on the same issue that are listed on January 8. At this point, the CJI remarked: “There is no improvement in the situation at all.”

The comment triggered a response from solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who said that the government was into “healthy discussions” with the farmers, and this is why they did not want to file an affidavit in response to the petitions in the court.

“We will have to oppose the petitions if we file our counter affidavit. We are into a healthy discussion otherwise. So, we don’t want to file our affidavits and oppose the petitions. We don’t want to oppose anything formally since we are discussing right now,” Mehta submitted, indicating that a documented counter by the government at this stage may not be conducive for the talks.

Attorney general KK Venugopal, who also represents the Centre in these matters, added that the government would not want to put on record any kind of opposition regarding the farmers’ issues