The Punjab government told the apex court that the farmers had rejected interactions with the state’s high-powered committee. The Supreme Court on Wednesday stated that the court’s doors were “always open” to the demands and suggestions of protesting farmers, after they refused to engage with the Punjab government-formed committee.
The Punjab government told the apex court that though several, elaborate meetings had been held with Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farmer leader on an indefinite fast, the farmers had rejected interactions with the state’s high-powered committee.
The committee had invited farmers to talk on December 17, according to Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh but the protesting farmers did not engage with the authorities. Singh recommended that though efforts were ongoing to persuade the farmers, they should be permitted instead to bring their grievances to court.
In response to Singh’s suggestion, the bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan stated, “We clarify that court’s doors are always open to any suggestion or demand by farmers directly or through their authorised representative.”
The top court also took note of Dallewal’s health and asked the Punjab government to provide medical aid without delay. The veteran farmer leader had previously refused medical aid. A team of medical specialists from Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala has been deployed to monitor his health round-the-clock.
The 70-year-old Dallewal, who is also a cancer patient, has been on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana since November 26 to pressure the central government to accept the protesting farmers’ demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.
Apart from Dallewal’s 23 day fast, farmers have also planned a ‘rail roko’ march for three hours in 52 locations across the state
