Supreme Court judge, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, on November 21 said it was necessary to hear the farmer before painting him a “villain” who deliberately set his paddy fields ablaze to add his share to the toxic fumes hunkering over the national capital.
“You are all making him [the farmer] a villain. He is not a villain. He must be having reasons for what he is doing. He is the only person who can tell us why he is doing it. But he is not here… The ‘villain’ is not being heard. He should come,” Justice Dhulia said.
The judge’s remarks were in response to submissions by amicus curiae, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, in court, that 748 fires were lit across stubbled paddy fields in Punjab on Sunday alone.
“The Punjab government says it is doing everything. But it is not visible on the ground,” Ms. Singh said.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, the judge leading the Bench, said farmers who violate the law, despite court orders and counselling against stubble-burning, should feel the pinch.
“Despite court orders and counselling, for their two bit of money and no matter how the fires affect the environment and children, they do it… Why should people who violate the law benefit monetarily?” Justice Kaul asked.
He asked the Centre and Punjab why such errant farmers should be allowed to take the benefit of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy. “Take away the incentive,” Justice Kaul remarked.
But Justice Dhulia said MSP was a “sensitive issue”.
“There is a representative of everybody here except farmers… Farmers must be here,” Justice Dhulia said.
“People lighting fires will not come here and people following the law need not come here,” Justice Kaul said.
Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh informed the court that 8,481 meetings had been held with farmers across the State. The State has deployed 1,092 flying squads to prevent blazes. Over 980 First Information Reports (FIR) had been lodged against landowners and more than ₹2 crore had been estimated as environment compensation due.
Justice Kaul expressed his concern about the land in Punjab becoming increasingly arid due to extensive paddy cultivation.
“Somewhere, farmers have to understand the fallout of paddy cultivation… Whether there can be a policy by which you [the government] could discourage paddy and encourage other crops in Punjab… water is becoming scarce and the wells are running dry,” Justice Kaul said, conveying anxiety about the future.
The Punjab law officer had said that wells had to be dug 700 m to 1,000 m deep to find drinking water.
The court was informed that centres where farmers or their cooperative bodies could hire machinery at a heavy subsidy to de-stubble their fields without burning had been opened in Punjab and Haryana.
However, the court asked who would pay the cost of running and maintaining these machines. “These machines would require diesel, drivers, tractors,” Justice Dhulia noted.
