SC agri panel members are pro-govt, won't appear before it: Farmer unions

Farmer unions protesting against the new agriculture-marketing laws Tuesday disapproved of the Supreme Court-appointed committee to break the deadlock over the acts, and said they will not appear before the panel and continue their agitation.

Addressing a press conference at Singhu Border here, Union leaders claimed the members of committee formed by the top court are "pro-government".

The Supreme Court earlier in the day stayed the implementation of the controversial farm laws till further orders and set up a four-member committee to resolve the impasse between the Centre and the farmer unions protesting at Delhi's borders over the legislations.

"The members of the SC-appointed committee are not dependable as they have been writing on how agri laws are pro-farmer. We will continue our agitation," farmer leader Balbeer Singh Rajewal told the press conference.

The farmer leader said that unions never demanded the apex court form a committee to resolve the impasse over the laws, alleging the Central government is behind these developments.

"We are against the committee on principle. It is the government's way to distract attention from the protest," he said.

The framer leaders said the Supreme Court can repeal the farm laws suo motu.

Another farmer leader Darshan Singh said they will not appear before any committee, adding Parliament should discuss and resolve this issue.

"We don't want any external committee," he said.

However, the farmer leaders said they would attend the January 15 meeting with the government.

The four members of the committee are BKU president Bhupinder Singh Mann, Shetkeri Sangathana (Maharashtra) president Anil Ghanwat, South Asia Director for International Food Policy Research Institute Pramod Kumar Joshi, and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Haryana and Punjab, have been protesting at several border points of Delhi since November 28 last year, demanding a repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee to the minimum support price (MSP) system for their crops.