Toeing the line of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who as soon as parliament passed the controversial Farm Bills announced mulling legal steps, Agriculture Minister V. S. Sunil Kumar on Monday said the Kerala government is all set to approach the apex court against the Bills.
Kumar told the media that these Bills are against the interests of the farmers and the Kerala government would not implement them at any cost.
“We will approach the Supreme Court and are prepared to face the consequences arising out of it. The Centre has no business intruding in the matters which comes under the state’s jurisdictions,” said Kumar.
The Bills — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 — were passed by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The state Advocate General is now busy preparing to file a petition before the apex court this week.
The lone Kerala leader from the BJP in the Union Cabinet — Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan opined that the move is nothing but one with political overtures. He said the Bill is not “anti-farmers” but against the middlemen.
Incidentally in January this year, Kerala became the first state in the country to file a legal suit in the Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, following which other states also followed suit.
