Next round of talks between Centre, protesting farmers on March 19: Punjab Government informs Supreme Court

A file photo of Punjab farmers during the protest at Shambhu Border. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Punjab Government informed the Supreme Court of India on Friday (February 28, 2025) that representatives of the Union Government and farmers’ leaders have met twice to discuss issues, including the guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, and would meet again on March 19, 2025.

Appearing before a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N.K. Singh, Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh submitted that two Ministers of the State were also participating in the meetings.

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The platform for the meetings are being facilitated by an apex court-appointed committee led by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Justice Nawab Singh. The Supreme Court’s consistent and urgent interventions prompted by the State of health farmers’ leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was on a hunger strike, had cleared the path for talks.

In January, after nearly two months of his fast Mr. Dallewal had finally accepted medical aid and was shifted to a makeshift hospital. Mr. Dallewal had relented after meeting with a high-level delegation from the Union Government. He was holding his hunger strike at Kanauri border. More than 110 other farmers’ leaders, had also joined Mr. Dallewal in his hunger strike at the time.

Besides MSP, the protesting farmers had further sought a legal guarantee to protect their income and stabilise the agricultural market. Farmers have been camped at Shambhu and Kanauri borders of Punjab and Haryana ever since their march to Delhi was stopped in February 2024.

During the earlier hearings, before the Centre’s team met with the farmers, the Supreme Court had separately questioned the Union Government’s reluctance to come out with a statement that its “doors are open” to consider the “genuine grievances” of the protestors.

Lauding the work done by the Justice Singh committee, the apex court ordered the State Government to pay them an honorarium for every meeting. The Bench said it would hold on to the confidential status reports filed by the committee for now. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the State of Haryana, had requested the court for copies of the reports.