The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to post on July 22 for hearing the Haryana government’s plea challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order directing the opening, on experimental basis, of Shambhu border within a week so that the general public are not inconvenienced.

The Haryana government has sealed Shambhu border in the wake of ongoing farmers agitation seeking statutory guarantee backing for the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The Haryana government’s senior Additional Advocate General Lokesh Sinhal mentioned the State government’s plea for an early hearing before a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant. The bench agreed to list the case for hearing on July 22.

February this year, the Haryana government had set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway after farmers union announced that the farmers would march to Delhi in support of their various demands, including legal backing for the MSP of the crops.

The High Court in its July 10, 2024, order, had observed that the border is a “lifeline” for citizens’ movement between Punjab and Haryana and to Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir, and its closure is causing immense inconvenience to the general public.

The Haryana government in its plea has said that the High Court passed such a direction on ‘experimental basis’ without appreciating the seriousness of the situation on the ground.

The Haryana government has stated, “The impugned interim order has the consequence of causing serious law and order repercussions in the State of Haryana and threatens the life and property in and around Shambhu border as also the other parts of Haryana, which the State government, i.e., the petitioner, is duty bound to protect under the Constitution.”

It further said that despite the categorical submission regarding law and order issue that may arise, the threat to life and property and despite a plea to shift the agitators out of the National Highway, the High Court has on an ‘experimental basis’ directed for opening of the Shambhu Border without passing any directions against the agitators.

It said that law and order is a State subject and it is entirely the responsibility of the State to assess the ground realities, threat perception, likelihood of breach of peace and violation of law.

“It is based on these and other inputs that blocking or unblocking of the Shambhu border has to be decided by the State,” the Haryana government stated.

“The impugned order records that 400-500 trolleys and 50-60 other vehicles with a gathering of around 500 agitators are still at site at Shambhu Border. No directions have been passed to these illegally agitating groups to vacate the Highway, to stop causing inconvenience and to stop creating law and order issues. Instead, the State has been directed to re-open the Shambhu Border when such a huge number of agitators remain present at site. The threat perception of the area remains high and likelihood of any untoward incident cannot be ruled out,” said the Haryana government’s petition.

It further submitted that in the current situation, when there is still serious apprehension that there is threat to life and property, passing of such ‘experimental order’ jeopardises law and order in the area and makes futile the attempts being made by the State over so many months to bring the area back to normalcy.

On July 12, the top court while hearing a related matter, had asked the Haryana government to remove the barricades and questioned its authority to block the highway.

“How can a State block a highway? It has a duty to regulate traffic. We are saying open it but regulate,” the top court had told the lawyer appearing for the Haryana government.