New Delhi: A batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of three controversial farm laws, against which farmers have been protesting for more than a year at Delhi borders, in the Supreme Court would become infructuous after the Centre either passes a law or brings an ordinance to repeal these statutes, said an expert.
“The petitions would become infructuous. But the thing is that the parliamentary laws have to be repealed either by an Ordinance or by an Act not by an oral statement. The pleas would be rendered infructuous after either the Ordinance is issued or in December, a law is enacted to repeal in Parliament,” senior lawyer and constitutional law expert Rakesh Dwivedi said.
He said that now the top court is not required to deal with the constitutionality of contentious provisions of the laws and the counsel for the parties would, on record, inform the bench when the matters would come up about the repeal of the statutes enabling the bench to pass an order to dismiss the pleas as withdrawn.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the nation on the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti on Friday, announced that the government has decided to repeal the farm laws and appealed to the protesting farmers to return home.
The top court, which initially on October 12, 2020, had issued the notice to the Centre on pleas filed by RJD lawmaker from Rajya Sabha, Manoj Jha and DMK Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, Tiruchi Siva, and one by Rakesh Vaishnav of Chhattisgarh Kisan Congress, later came down on the government for “improper” handling of farmers’ stir.
January 12, this year, a bench headed by the then Chief Justice S A Bobde (since retired) stayed the implementation of the farm laws till further orders rejecting the vehement opposition of the Centre that it was to be heard before the grant of stay, saying it may encourage the protesting farmers to come to the negotiating table in good faith and may “assuage the hurt feelings”.
It had also constituted a 4-member committee to listen to their grievances and also make recommendations to resolve the issue and the panel had, subsequently, submitted its report to the top court in March.
Besides petitions challenging the laws, there are also many pleas before the Supreme Court against the farmers blockading roads outside Delhi and they were filed by citizens whose commute to the national capital was affected due to the road blockade.
Now, these pleas may also become redundant and infructuous as the protesting farmers may go back leading to the removal of road blockade.
The three laws — Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 — took effect from September 27, last year after President Ram Nath Kovind’s assent.
Many farmers had been protesting and were encamped at Delhi’s borders since November 2020 with a demand that the laws be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee MSP for crops.
PTI