The farmers’ representative in the Supreme Court-appointed committee on the contentious farm laws on Tuesday urged the Chief Justice of India to make the panel’s report public as the “recommendations will pave the way to resolve the ongoing farmers’ agitation”.

Anil Ghanwat, the president of the Sangathana that is in favour of the three farm laws whose scrapping the farmers have been demanding for over a year now, made the request in a letter to CJI N.V. Ramana dated September 1.

The committee was set up by the Supreme Court in the first fortnight of January while staying the implementation of the three farm laws. The panel was given two months to submit its report, which it did on March 19.

Since all four members of the committee were in favour of the three farm laws, which the farmers believe would rob them of their land and livelihood and allow corporate houses to take over agriculture, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha decided not to participate in its deliberations.

The SKM, an umbrella outfit of over 40 farm unions, has been spearheading the peasants’ protests since November.

Stating that the four-member committee had consulted a large number of farmers and several other stakeholders, Ghanwat claimed that the committee’s report submitted to the Supreme Court on March 19 had addressed all the apprehensions of the farmers. “The committee was confident that the recommendations will pave the way to resolve the ongoing farmers’ agitation,” he wrote.

Ghanwat explained why he was reaching out to the CJI at this juncture. “As a member of the committee, especially representing the farmers’ community, I am pained that the issue raised by the farmers aren’t yet resolved and the agitation is continuing. I feel that the report has not been given any attention by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” Ghanwat wrote.

Ghanwat told The Telegraph that the committee report should be made public so that there was a proper debate on the subject.

“We reached out to the SKM and its members also, asking them to send in their views on the subject. Every conversation we had with different stakeholders has been videographed. We had a questionnaire and got written submissions. All of this is recorded. Let it be in the public domain so that people realise there are various viewpoints on this subject. The farmers sitting at Delhi’s borders are not the only farmers in the country. There are others also who have views.”

About the SKM’s criticism of him and the other three members in the committee being in favour of the laws, Ghanwat said: “ The Shetkari Sangathana has been in favour of such laws from its very inception. It is not a case of us supporting the government’s position, but the government finally supporting what we have been demanding for years.”