The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the three newly enacted farm laws.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde issued four weeks’ notice to the central government and sought its reply.
Farm laws
The three laws — Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 — took effect from September 27 after President Ram Nath Kovid’s assent.
The bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, was hearing pleas filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal lawmaker from Rajya Sabha, Manoj Jha; Congress Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, TN Prathapan; and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, Tiruchi Siva; and a petition filed by Rakesh Vaishnav.
Threat to APMC system
The petitions alleged that the three farm laws passed by Parliament would dismantle the Agricultural Produce Market Committees system intended to ensure fair prices for farm products.