The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered maintaining the status quo at the Shambhu border near Ambala between Haryana and Punjab, where farmers demanding a law to guarantee minimum support price for their agricultural produce, have been agitating since February 13, 2024.

Ordering status quo, a bench comprising 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 to be included in the proposed expert committee or else it can find out some suitable persons for the committee. The bench gave a week’s time to both the States to suggest the names to be included in the proposed committee.

“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 top court’s order came in the course of the hearing of an appeal by the Haryana government 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 on experimental basis.

Appearing for the Haryana government Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the opening of the border saying it will create a law-and-order problem. Right now, the Solicitor General said that there are armoured tanks at the Shambhu border.

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

At this, the bench told Solicitor General Mehta that ”there are some trust deficits and as a State you need to take some initiative to reach out to the farmers”.

As Mehta said that the State was ready to talk, Justice Surya Kant said, “You are sending your ministers… Why don’t 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 people having neutral…”

Having batted for an effort by independent people to resolve the deadlock, the court said that it was proposing to set-up a committee of independent people, observing that it is more than a year now and national highways can’t be blocked.

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