Supreme Court directs Haryana, Punjab to maintain status quo at Shambhu border

New Delhi [India], July 24 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the status quo be maintained at the Shambhu border near Ambala, where farmers have been camping since February 13.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan said it proposes to constitute an independent committee comprising eminent persons who can reach out to farmers and other stakeholders in order to find out viable solution to their demands that can be fair, just and in the interests of everyone.

The bench asked the Punjab and Haryana governments to suggest some names of members in the committee or else it can find out some suitable persons for the committee.

Supreme Court asked both the States to suggest the names within a week.

“Let appropriate instructions be taken within a week. Till then let parties maintain status quo at the site to prevent flaring up of the situation at the Shambhu border,” the bench stated in its order.

The top court also asked Punjab and Haryana to take steps for the removal of barricades in a phased manner at Shambhu border so that no inconvenience is caused to the public at large.

The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal against the July 10 Punjab and Haryana High Court order by which it had directed it to open the highway and clear the barricading within seven days.

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Haryana government told opposed the opening of the border saying it will create the law and order problem.

Right now there are armoured tanks at the Shambhu border, said Solicitor General.

“As a welfare State we cannot afford any untoward incident… they are prohibited on a national highway. JCB, tanks, trollies are converted into virtual war tanks. Please see the photos. I am saying this with a sense of responsibility,” he said.

The bench then told Solicitor General that there are some trust deficit and as a State you need to take some initiative to reach out the farmers.

Mehta replied that State was ready to talk.

To this, Justice Kant said, “You are sending your ministers… Why do not you think of a neutral umpire. Some confidence needs to be there. This is a case of trust deficit… or we will think of suggesting some persons having neutral…”

The bench asked then said it was proposing to constitute some independent committee.

The bench also observed that it’s more than a year now and National Highway can’t blocked.

In February, the Haryana government had set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway. Farmers bodies announced that farmers would march to Delhi in support of various demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.