Farmer union moves Supreme Court for scrapping of 'arbitrary' farm laws

Refusing to accept the Centre’s suggested amendments to the three new farm laws, the Bhartiya Kisan Union on Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking it to quash the controversial laws passed by Parliament.

The petitioner, Bhanu Pratap Singh, also the president of Bhartiya Kisan Union, told the court that the three laws will lead to corporatisation of agriculture and exploitation of farmers. He also hinted at starting a “rail roko” agitation soon.

Calling the new laws “arbitrary”, the petition alleges that they were passed without adequate discussion.

The apex court has issued several notices to the Union government on petitions filed earlier challenging the contentious laws passed by Parliament in September.

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The three contentious laws are: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

Many farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been camping in Delhi for about two weeks now to register their protest against the laws, which they claim are anti-farmer and pro-corporate.

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Thousands of them had walked towards Delhi early this month and in the process blocked major roads leading to and away from the national capital.

As the protests became intense, the Centre relented and agreed to give a written guarantee on MSP as well as amend a few other provisions of the three laws. However, the protesting farmers refuse to budge. They have said they won’t accept anything but scrapping of the laws altogether. Several political parties, partners of NDA and from the opposite camps, have supported the protesting farmers.