An unprecedented 48 respondents — 43 farmers’ organisations and five government entities — have been arrayed as “respondents” in the Supreme Court hearing relating to the constitutional validity of the three farm laws facing intense protests.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde had earlier decided to constitute a committee to resolve the farmers’ protest, telling the government that its “negotiations will again fail” and the friction cannot be left festering as it is a “national issue”.

On December 17, the court had asked the petitioner, Rishabh Sharma who has sought the eviction of the farmers, to serve notices on the farmers’ organisations so that they can be heard and the possibility of including some of their representatives in the proposed committee explored.

This is the first time in the history of the Supreme Court that such a large number of respondents have been arrayed in a single petition.

The respondents arrayed by the petitioners on the orders of the Supreme Court include the Union of India, the governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, the Delhi police commissioner and 43 farmer organisations. It is unclear what the criteria for choosing the farmer organisations was because not all the collectives protesting outside Delhi are covered.