Supreme Court says there is trust deficit between farmers and government; directs Haryana, Punjab to maintain status quo at Shambhu border

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 24

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the governments of Punjab and Haryana to maintain status quo at the Shambhu border till next week to prevent the situation from flaring up as it declared forming an independent committee to negotiate with the protesting farmers to find an amicable resolution to the issues.

A three-judge Bench led by Justice Surya Kant directed the states of Punjab and Haryana to suggest names of “suitable individuals” who can be included in the committee.

“Till such time both the states are directed to maintain status quo at the site to prevent the flaring up of the situation at the Shambhu border,” the Bench said.

Highlighting the “trust deficit” between the government and the protesting farmers, Justice Kant said the issues could be resolved through negotiations.

“Have you taken any initiative to negotiate with the farmers? Your ministers might go to the farmers without realising the local issues. There is a trust deficit. Why don’t you have some neutral umpires? There have to be confidence-building measures,” Justice Kant said.

Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh told the Bench that the blockade of the highway was resulting in “huge and grave ramifications on the economic health of Punjab because goods are not able to come to Delhi.”

Suggesting a “result-oriented approach”, Singh said the national highway cannot be blocked endlessly.

The Bench – which also included Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan – asked both the states to suggest proposals for removal of barricades at the Shambhu border to prevent inconvenience to the general public. The matter will be taken up next week.

The order came during a hearing on the Haryana government’s petition challenging the July 10 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court requiring it to remove within a week the barricades at the Shambhu border near Ambala where farmers have been camping since February.

On behalf of the Haryana government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Haryana Senior Additional Advocate General Lokesh Sinhal submitted that over 500-600 tractors — which have been modified as “armoured tanks” — were stationed at the site and if they were allowed to travel to Delhi, law and order problems would arise.

“You need to make some effort, after all, you have to reach out to the farmers. Why would they otherwise need to come to Delhi?” the Bench commented.

As Justice Bhuyan said, “You also can’t block the highway…it’s been for over a year,” Mehta responded, “NH can’t be used for JCBs trolleys etc as the Motor Vehicles Act prevents the use of such vehicles on national highways.”

On tractors being modified by farmers, the Bench said the protesters, too, might need some shelter and that it was a common practice among farmers in Punjab and Haryana to modify their tractors.

While hearing a related case on July 12, the top court had asked the Haryana government to remove the barricades at the Shambhu border. “How can a state block a highway? It has a duty to regulate traffic. We are saying open it but regulate,” it had said.

The Haryana government has submitted that “despite the categorical submission regarding law and order issue that may arise, the threat to life and property and despite a plea to shift the agitators out of the National Highway, the high court has on an ‘experimental basis’ directed for opening of the Shambhu border without passing any directions against the agitators”.

The Haryana government said law and order is a state subject and it is entirely the state’s responsibility to assess ground realities, threat perception, likelihood of breach of peace and violation of law.

It said the high court order recorded that 400-500 trolleys and 50-60 other vehicles with a gathering of around 500 agitators are still at site at the Shambhu border but no directions had been issued to these “illegally agitating groups” to vacate the highway, to stop causing inconvenience and creating law and order issues.

More than five months after the “unlawful sealing of the border between Haryana and Punjab” to prevent farmers from “protesting peacefully”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had on July 10 directed the state of Haryana to open the Shambhu border on an experimental basis to prevent inconvenience to the public.

A High Court Bench of Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Vikas Bahl had said it was apparent that the “lifelines of the state of Punjab” were blocked on mere apprehensions, while “the cause has dwindled”.

As such, it would be in the general public’s interest that “the state of Haryana now does not continue to block the highways for all time to come,” the High Court had said.