New Delhi: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to stop various district administrations in the state from seeking personal bonds with exorbitant sums from tractor-owning farmers, including women, to prevent them from participating in the protest against the central farm laws.
A Lucknow bench issued the order on Additional Advocate General V.K. Sahi’s oral undertaking to the court that he would convey to the government to stop district magistrates and sub-divisional magistrates from demanding personal bonds with hefty amounts from farmers. “…“there is no further apprehension to breach of peace or disturbance of public tranquility,” the law officer told the court, while agreeing that the bonds would be dropped.
The court trusts the AAG’s statement, the bench of Justices Ramesh Sinha and Rajeev Singh said, noting down the state’s law officer’s undertaking.
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The bench gave the order while disposing of a public interest lawsuit of Sitapur native Arundhuti Dhuru, who had accused the district administration from demanding personal bonds of Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh from the tractor-owning farmers with two sureties of the same amount.
In response to the court’s query earlier, the law officer appeared before it on Tuesday and informed it that notices were withdrawn because the apprehension did not persist any longer. He also assured the court he would instruct the authorities not to repeat such acts.
The bench, however, observed that the law officer’s response could not satisfy it as to why the authorities had demanded personal bonds with such huge amounts and sureties with similar amounts for keeping peace and security in the district.
The court, however, disposed of the petition, trusting that the Sitapur DM and SDMs will not repeat such an act in future. “…Their orders, act and conduct should not be such which reflects arbitrariness and against the principles of natural justice,” the court stated.
The petitioner had alleged that Sitapur DM and SDMs had issued notices to tractor-owning farmers on January 19 and subsequently under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code in the apprehension of breach of peace by them.
Through the notices, the SDMs had called upon them to furnish personal bonds of Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh and two sureties of the same amount in the apprehension of the breach of law and order by them amid the farmers protest in the district.
(With PTI inputs)