NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday set up a high-powered committee headed by Justice Nawab Singh, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to amicably resolve the grievances of farmers protesting at the Shambhu border since February this year.
A Bench led by Justice Surya Kant said the other members of the committee would be PS Sandhu, former Haryana DGP; Devender Sharma, Professor of Eminence, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Prof Ranjit Singh Ghuman; and Dr Sukhpal Singh, agricultural economist at Punjab Agricultural University.
The Bench asked the panel to seek the presence of Prof Baldev Raj Kamboj, Vice Chancellor, Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University, Hisar, as a special invitee as and when his expert opinion was needed. It asked the committee to submit an interim report on the next date of hearing i.e. October 14.
The top court asked the committee drawn from the names suggested by both Punjab and Haryana to reach out to the agitating farmers to impress upon them to immediately remove their tractors, trolleys, tents and other accessories from and near the National Highway so as to enable the civil and police administration of both the states to open the highway.
“We hope and trust that one of the major demands of the agitating farmers regarding the constitution of a neutral high-powered committee having been accepted with the consent of both the states, they will immediately respond and vacate the Shambhu border or the other roads connecting the two states without any delay,” it said.
“This gesture will provide a huge relief to the general public who are facing extreme hardships due to the blockade of the highway. It will also facilitate the high-powered committee and both the states to consider the farmers’ genuine and just demands in a dispassionate and objective manner,” said the Bench, which included Justice Ujjal Bhuyan.