Congress MP from Kerala, TN Prathapan on Monday moved the Supreme Court, challenging various provisions of the Centre’s new farm laws, PTI ...
Congress MP from Kerala, TN Prathapan on Monday moved the Supreme Court, challenging various provisions of the Centre’s new farm laws, PTI reported. This is the first petition against the laws in the top court.
Prathapan, who represents the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, argued that the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 violated the right to equality (Article 14), prohibition of discrimination (Article 15) and right to life and liberty (Article 21) of the Indian Constitution. He added that the laws were “liable to be struck down as unconstitutional, illegal and void”.
The Congress MP also said in his petition that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee or APMC Model Act was created to protect the farmers from exploitation by intermediaries and to build a common market to sell produce. “Without APMC acting as a protective shield around the farmers, the market would ultimately fall to the corporate greed of multinational companies who are more profit-oriented and have no care for the conditions of the poverty stricken farmers who are dependent on farming for their livelihood,” he said.
Prathapan added that the APMCs ensured Minimum Support Price to the farmers, who were engaged in an unpredictable...
