The order was pronounced by a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI), SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, stayed the implementation of the three controversial Farm Laws against which farmers, particularly from north Indian States of Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting at Delhi borders since November 2020.
The three laws, Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance & Farm Services Act 2020, Farmers Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act & Amendment to Essential Commodities Act have been stayed until further orders.
The Court also ordered the formation of a four-member committee to hear all the parties and stakeholders and report to the Court about the same.
The committee comprises Bhupinder Singh Mann (National President of Bharatiya Kisan Union), Dr. Pramod Kumar Joshi, Ashok Gulati (Agricultural Economist) and Anil Ghanwat (President of Shetkari Sanghatana).
Detailed copy of order will be published later.
The order was pronounced by a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI), SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The Court had during the hearing of the matter on Monday expressed its inclination to stay the contentious laws while observing that the steps taken by the Central government to break the deadlock between the government and farmers have not yielded the desired results.
Various farmers unions and organisations and individuals have assailed the three Farm Laws before the Supreme Court.
The three laws, Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance & Farm Services Act 2020, Farmers Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act & Amendment to Essential Commodities Act have been challenged as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional.
"They will pave the way for cartelization and commercialization of agriculture produced and if allowed to stand will completely ruin our country as the corporates can, with one stroke, export our agriculture produce without any regulation," one of the petitioners submitted.
It was also contended that the laws passed are "unconstitutional" and "anti-farmer," as it would dismantle the Agriculture Produce Market Committee system intended to ensure fair prices for farm products.
During the hearing on Tuesday Attorney General KK Venugopal told the Court that the Centre has received information Khalistanis have infiltrated the farmers protests.
This submission was made after the Court inquired from the Attorney General about whether he can confirm an allegation made in one of the applications that a banned organisation was trying to fund the protests.
The Central government has remained steadfast in its stance that the laws are perfectly Constitutional and within the legislative competence of the Parliament.
In its affidavit filed before the top court on Monday, the Central government claimed that the Farm Laws are a result of two decades of deliberation and that "wrong perception created by non-farmer elements" about the laws needs to be cleared.
It alleged that some of the farmers were agitating against the Laws due to the "apprehensions, misgivings and misconceptions created by some vested interest people".
"(Most of) the farmers of the nation are happy as they are given an additional option over and above the existing and, therefore, no vested right is taken away," the affidavit said.
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