The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Punjab and Haryana governments to continue engaging with the agitating farmers to persuade them to remove tractors and trollies and clear the highway, which has been barricaded by the Haryana government since February this year.

Farmers from Punjab have been agitating at the Shambhu border between the two states at Ambala since February 13, 2024, seeking statutory backing for the Minimum Support Price for their agricultural produce, mainly wheat and rice.

Posting the matter for further consideration on September 2, a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and Ujjal Bhuyan asked both the state governments to continue their meetings with farmers and report the outcomes at the next hearing.

The court also directed the Haryana and Punjab governments to submit the issues that will be referred to the committee it plans to constitute for negotiations with both the agitating farmers and the government.

However, the court made it clear that the reference to the committee will be a wider mandate so that the issues that are time and again causing law and order problems can be amicably resolved in a fair and just manner.

Continuing its July 24 status quo order at the Shambhu border, the court also granted liberty to the Punjab government to suggest more names for the composition of the committee within three days.

In the earlier hearing, the court had asked the authorities in both states to explore the possibility of partially opening the highway at the Shambhu border, initially for ambulances, essential services, and daily commuters of the nearby area.

The top court is hearing an appeal by the Haryana government against the July 10, 2024, Punjab and Haryana High Court order directing it to open the highway and clear the barricading within seven days on an experimental basis.

In February, the Haryana government set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway after farmers’ bodies announced plans to march to Delhi in support of various demands, including a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price for crops.