Patiala

The Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee, led by a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has invited the protesting farmer unions for discussion, people familiar with the matter said.

The protesting farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their “Delhi chalo” march was stopped by the security forces.

The farmers are agitating over a plethora of demands, including legal guarantee of MSP for their produce, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, full debt waiver for farmers, pension for farmers and labourers and withdrawal of cases against farmers during the 2020-21 protest.

On September 2, the apex court constituted a high-powered committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge justice Nawab Singh to amicably resolve the grievances of protesting farmers.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the committee to reach out to the agitating farmers to immediately remove their tractors and trolleys from the Shambhu border to provide relief to commuters.

The committee also comprises retired IPS officer PS Sandhu, Devender Sharma, professor Ranjit Singh Ghuman and Sukhpal Singh, agricultural economist from the Punjab Agricultural University.

Farmer leaders have questioned the effectiveness and intent of the panel and suspect that rather than addressing the pressing issue of a legal guarantee for the MSP, the committee has been formed for the reopening the national highway, thereby undermining the ongoing protest.

Farmer unions are yet to take a call on the committee’s invite which was received on Friday.

The unions said a meeting would be held between the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — the two main forums leading the ongoing farmer protest — to decide on their response to the committee’s invitation. This decision is expected in a day or two, said a farm leader.

Sarwan Singh Pandher, convener of the KMM, confirmed of receiving a letter from the committee. “We will hold a meeting soon to decide whether or not to engage in talks with the committee,” Pandher said, adding that he was sceptic about the committee’s competency to address their main demands.

Pandher said the SC-appointed committee could only make recommendations to the Union government and even if the panel supported their demand for a legal guarantee for MSP in its report to the Supreme Court, the final decision would lie with the Centre. “These are tactics of the government to weaken our movement,” he added.

“The Swaminathan Commission submitted its report nearly two decades ago, but it was never implemented. Even if this committee makes better recommendations, it will be up to the government to implement them. So, we don’t expect this committee to resolve our demands,” he added.

Guramneet Mangat, another KMM member, echoed similar views: “We are not averse to talks… even when teargas was used against us, we were there for talks. But this committee lacks the power to resolve our issue. The government, not the committee, should hold direct talks with us to address the MSP issue.”

SKM (Non-Political) convener Jagjit Singh Dallewal said: “We will take a call on accepting the committee’s invite for talks only after holding a meeting of SKM (Non-Political) and KMM representatives. We will decide the date and venue if union leaders give a go-ahead for talks.”