Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea to consider demands of protesting farmers

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition seeking directions to the Central and State governments to consider the demands of farmers who have been protesting for enactment of a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP) for various crops..The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice KV Viswanathan at the outset told the petitioner, Agnostos Theos, who is the Managing Director of The Sikh Chamber of Commerce, that such petitions based on newspaper reports should not filed to gain publicity."Do not file such petitions for publicity only, based on newspaper reports. The High Court is also seized of it and has given directions. Be careful. We are not taking a stand qua anything. Do your own research also, these are complex issues," Justice Kant remarked..The bench eventually allowed the petitioner to withdraw his plea with a liberty to avail his remedies as per the law."Learned counsel for the petitioner, at the outset, seeks to withdraw this petition with liberty to have recourse to the appropriate remedy. Permission, as prayed for, is granted. The Writ Petition is, accordingly, dismissed as withdrawn with liberty as aforementioned", the order states.Advocates Prakash Sharma, Anuj Saxena, Vijay Pal, Kamal Pundir, Abhishek Kumar, and Anubhav appeared for Theos.Theos had prayed that the Union government and State governments be directed to ensure fair and respectful treatment of the protesting farmers. He had sought a direction to permit the ongoing march of farmers and their vehicles to Delhi..Various unions representing the farmers on February 13 began to march towards Delhi to protest for their demands including enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.The farmers, currently camping at the borders of Punjab and Haryana, have faced stiff resistance from the Haryana Police, which has used force to prevent them from marching towards the national capital.While many of the protestors have suffering injuries, one youth also died in alleged police action recently. Meanwhile, the meetings held between the farmer leader and ministers of the Union government have remained inconclusive..Pertinently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court since February 13 has been seized of a batch of petitions related to the farmer protests. While one of the petitions filed initially challenged the restrictions imposed on the protesting farmers, including the sealing of borders and the suspension of the internet; the other sought maintenance of law and order in the region.A fresh Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed recently sought registration of a criminal case against Haryana Police for alleged excesses against the farmers..On February 29, the High Court issued notice on an application seeking judicial inquiry into the death of the 22-year-old farmer at Khanauri Border.It also directed the State of Punjab and Haryana to file their replies regarding suspension of internet keeping in view the law laid down by the Apex Court in Anuradha Bhasin vs. Union of India and others.The High Court will hear the matter on March 7..[Read order]