New Delhi: The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Union government on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the newly enacted three contentious farm laws.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the central government and sought its reply within four weeks.
The bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, was hearing pleas filed by Rashtriya Janta Dal lawmaker from Rajya Sabha, Manoj Jha; Congress Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, TN Prathapan and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Rajya Sabha MP from Tamilnadu, Tiruchi Siva, and a petition filed by Rakesh Vaishnav.
They 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.
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 27 September after President Ram Nath Kovid’s assent.