Acknowledging the right of farmers to protest but underlining that they “cannot sit in protest for years” and “have to talk and we will facilitate it”, the Supreme Court Thursday sought the Centre’s view on whether it can put on hold implementation of the new farm laws until the court decides on the issue.
“Can the executive assure that no action will be taken under the laws till we hear it?” the bench headed by Chief Justice of India asked Attorney General K K Venugopal while hearing a clutch of petitions seeking removal of farmers staging a sit-in at the borders of Delhi against the new farm laws.
Despite objections from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that it would be impossible to give such an assurance to the court, Venugopal told the bench that he would discuss the issue with the government.
