SC to hear plea suggesting releasing portion of MSP to farmers only after verifying they did not burn stubble

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea that a portion of Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be withheld from farmers and released later only after verifying that they did not burn stubble.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde hearing the issue on stubble burning in the neighbouring states posted the matter for October 16.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre said tinkering with the Minimum Support Price may not be in the interests of farmers and added that government will file a reply.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan said he has filed another application in the case and suggested that a portion of MSP should be withheld to verify if the farmer has indulged in stubble burning.

He said that the submissions are based on the recommendations of the expert committee.Divan also suggested the replication of measures adopted to control forest fires with respect to stubble burning.

"For forest fire, there is already a system, by which satellite imageries are captured, and messages are sent to the concerned forest officials for remedial measures. Why can't such measures be adopted with regards to stubble burning," Divan said.

To this, Chief Justice Bobde asked who was going to supervise and verify if the farmer has indulged in stubble burning?

Advocate Charanpal Singh, appearing for a farmers union, took objection to the suggestion of withholding Minimum Support Price.

Singh said that on November 5, 2019, the Supreme Court had ordered that compensation should be granted to those small and marginal farmers who did not burn the stubble.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre said tinkering with the Minimum Support Price may not be in the interests of farmers and added that government will file a reply.

Amicus Curiae Aparajita Singh, advocate assisting the court on the issue, said that States have failed to act as per their assurances to take steps to control stubble burning.

During the hearing of the case relating to stubble burning, Chief Justice Bobde in a lighter vein asked, will the smoke from stubble burning kill coronavirus?

Senior advocate Vikas Singh said Corona pandemic may get aggravated because of pollution from stubble burning.

Meanwhile, the court also asked Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab to be present before it through video conferencing on the next date of hearing. "Let the Chief Secretaries of the States viz., Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, be present before this Court on the next date of hearing," the court ordered.

The court posted the matter for hearing on October 16.

The top court had earlier asked governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan about the arrangements made by them for preventing stubble burning which is a source of pollution in the region.

It had also asked the States concerned to apprise it about the instances of stubble burning in the previous year, its locations and also how many farmers were responsible so that "special arrangements" could be made in advance for those areas.

In November last year, the top court had expressed displeasure over the failure of state machinery in preventing stubble burning and said that citizens of Delhi-national capital region (NCR) were suffocating due to air pollution and people cannot be left to die in a "gas chamber".

( With inputs from ANI )