Anil J Ghanwat

‘Will Release Report on Farm Laws If Apex Court Doesn’t’: SC-Appointed Panel Member

‘This should not go into the dustbin. It should not happen. I will make it public,’ Anil J. Ghanwat has said.

New Delhi: A member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel – which has submitted its report on the farm laws to the apex court – on Friday said that the purpose of the report is “over” now that the laws have been repealed and he will mull releasing the report in the public domain, if the apex court does not do so.

Shetkari Sanghatana president Anil J. Ghanwat said the panel’s report had been in “favour of farmers”.

While suspending the implementation of the three farm laws, the Supreme Court had constituted a Committee on January 12, 2021, to which Ghanwat was nominated as a member to represent the farming community.

Other than Ghanwat, the panel had Ashok Gulati (agricultural economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural) and Pramod Kumar Joshi who is an agricultural economist and Director for South Asia at International Food Policy Research Institute.

The three-member committee, after studying the three farm laws and consultation with stakeholders, had submitted its report to the apex court on March 19.

Since then, the report has not been made public, despite Ghanwat having requested the Chief Justice of India in a letter dated September 1, to release the panel’s report in the public domain saying its “recommendations will pave the way to resolve the ongoing farmers’ agitation.”

Recently, over 200 eminent citizens, including professors, civil servants, journalists and prominent activists had written an open letter to the Chief Justice of India, attempting to draw his attention to the pending status of key matters in Supreme Court, including the farm laws.

The Supreme Court had also, controversially, questioned if the protests can continue while the matter was sub-judice.

Speaking to PTI, Ghanwat said: “If these three farm laws are withdrawn, this report has no sense at all…If the apex court does not make it public, I will make it public.”

The committee has spent three months preparing the report. “This should not go into the dustbin. It should not happen. I will make it public,” he said.

The committee will meet on Monday and will take views of all three members on releasing the panel’s report in the public domain, he added.

Ghanwat further said, “The other members are academicians and professionals and they don’t have anything to do with the farmers’ movement. But I am a farmers’ leader. I have to take care of farmers.”

“I will take the initiative of releasing the panels’ report in the public domain in the interest of farmers. The farmers, press and the government should know recommendations made by the panel,” he said, adding that the report was in favour of farmers.

The report will be a good reference for framing future laws on agriculture, he added.

Time of India has reported Ghanwat as having said that this decision “won’t end the agitation. Because their demand to make minimum support price (MSP) legal will be there. And this decision won’t help the BJP politically either.”

‘SC’s prerogative’

Gulati said, “It is the prerogative of the Supreme Court whether it wants to make it public or not.”

With the government’s decision to repeal new farm laws, the purpose of the report ends, he also said.

It’s been over a year now that farmers are protesting at Delhi border against the three central farm laws: Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

“At least now, farmers don’t have a case to keep agitating. Farmers’ demand in any case has drifted away from the farm laws to make the minimum support price (MSP) legal,” he added.

The apex court had suspended the implementation of three farm laws and constituted a committee to report on these laws on January 12 this year.

(With PTI inputs)

Farm Laws: SC-Appointed Panel Member Says Report 100% in Favour of Farmers

Shetkari Sanghatana president, Anil J Ghanwat, the panel member in question said that it is important to release the report in the public domain at the earliest to clear all apprehensions of farmers.

New Delhi/Pune: Hopeful of an early resolution to the long-running farmers’ protests on the national capital borders, a key member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel on contentious agri-laws on Wednesday said the report submitted by the committee is “cent per cent” in favour of farmers and the apex court must take up the matter without any delay.

The panel member acknowledged that the government and the Supreme Court have to consider the law and order issue that may arise with the release of the report for which they needed to take time, but “they just cannot dump it and they should not dump it”.

Shetkari Sanghatana president, Anil J Ghanwat, the panel member who had written to the Chief Justice of India on September 1 urging him to make the report public, also said the committee does not support repeal of the three laws, as being demanded by protesting farmers, but he and his organisation certainly believed that there are “many defects” in the laws that needed to be addressed.

“It is therefore very important for the apex court to release the report in the public domain at the earliest to clear all apprehensions of farmers,” Ghanwat told PTI.

“The report has to be made public at the earliest. If they do it tomorrow, that will be better…When the people will know the content of the report, they will decide whether the new farm laws are in favour of farmers or not,” he said.

“It’s been five months since we have submitted our report to the court and I can’t understand what could be the reasons for the court to not take cognizance of the report,” he said, and urged the court to release the report at the earliest.

In his letter to the CJI, Ghanwat had said, “The report has addressed all apprehensions of the farmers. The committee was confident that the recommendations will pave the way to resolve the ongoing farmers’ agitation.”

Other members of the committee are Ashok Gulati, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and Pramod Kumar Joshi from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

“As a member of the committee, especially representing the farmers’ community, I am pained that the issue raised by the farmers aren’t resolved and the agitation is continuing. I feel that the report has not been given any attention by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” Ghanwat wrote in his letter.

He said the apex court must release the panel’s report for implementation of its recommendations for “peaceful resolution of the stalemate to the farmers’ satisfaction at the earliest.”

Asked if the views expressed in the letter written to CJI are supported by other members of the committee, Ghanwat said, “Actually, they support it. But they are not ready to say in writing. They are happy that I have raised the issue.”

He said the panel’s report is 100% in favour of farmers and of the country, but replied negatively when asked if the committee has supported the protesting farmers’ demand of repeal of the new laws.

“No. We don’t support that,” he said.

“There are many defects in the new laws. Our Shetkari Sanghatana also supported new farm laws but we had concerns too on some aspects. Many participants told the same during the deliberations,” he said, adding everyone’s views have been taken into consideration while finalising the report.

The main concern is that the minimum support price (MSP) will be wiped out, but that is not true. The new farm laws do not talk about MSP, but there was a lot of fear-mongering on this issue, he said.

Farmers have been protesting on various borders of the national capital for over nine months, demanding repeal of the three laws and also a legal guarantee for MSP.

On the possibility of implementing the new laws in a phased manner, Ghanwat said, “Of course, we can,” but he declined to share if this was one of the recommendations of the committee.

Asked if he plans to write a similar letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ministers concerned in the government, he said, “No. The mandate for us was given by the Supreme Court. We will tell the court only. There is no relation with the government on this matter. Neither the government appointed us nor we are answerable to it.”

Ghanwat also condemned the lathicharge on protesting farmers in Karnal, Haryana and said, “It should not have happened. Their demand may not be right, but they have the right to air their views and protest.”

Farmers’ Protests: SC-Appointed Panel Member Asks Court to Make Report Public

Farmers had earlier expressed distrust of this committee, since all members had openly supported the farm laws.

New Delhi: Anil J. Ghanwat, president of the Shetkari Sanghatana and member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel on the farmers’ protests, has asked the apex court to release the committee’s report publicly and send it to the Union government.

On September 1, Ghanwat wrote to Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana saying the panel’s report “has addressed all apprehensions of the farmers” and its “recommendations will pave the way to resolve the ongoing farmers’ agitation”, Indian Express reported.

“As a member of the Committee, especially representing the farmers’ community, I am pained that the issue raised by the farmers aren’t yet resolved and the agitation is continuing. I feel that the report has not been given any attention by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” he continued.

“I am humbly pleading to the Hon’ble Supreme Court to kindly release the report for implementation of its recommendations for peaceful resolution of the stalemate to the farmers’ satisfaction at the earliest.”

In January this year, the Supreme Court had suspended implementation of the contentious farm laws and put together a panel comprising Bhupinder Singh Mann, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Anil Ghanwat, president of Shetkari Sangthana, Maharashtra, Pramod Kumar Joshi, director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute, and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati. All four of these people had previously spoken in favour of the farm laws, thus making farmers suspicious of the court’s motives in setting up this panel.

Mann later stepped down from the panel, citing the farming community’s unhappiness with the court’s decision.

Farmers had said then that they will not negotiate with the committee, given how the members were active supporters of the farm laws. The protesters have held from the start that only a total repeal of the three laws will assuage their fears.

The panel was constituted under former Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde. This raised further questions when it became clear that Bobde had a previous relationship with Ghanwat and his organisation.

Ghanwat, however, now seems to believe that the panel’s report can solve the months-long stalemate between the Union government and farmers. “Farmers have been protesting against the laws for the last nine months. It has been five months since we submitted the report. Yet no action has been taken to make it public. Our consultations were exhaustive and we feel once this report is made public, the next course of action will be taken,” he told Indian Express.

The farmers’ protests have been continuing full steam, with massive mahapanchayats being organised in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The farmers have also announced their plan to challenge the BJP’s electoral prospects ahead of multiple assembly elections next year.