Anil Ghanwat, one of the members of the Supreme Court-appointed panel on the three contentious farm laws, said that the board is scheduled to hold its first meeting on January 19 at Pusa campus in New Delhi.

On January 11, the top court stayed the implementation of the new, controversial laws, against which farmers are protesting at Delhi borders for over 50 days now, till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.

However, Bharatiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann recused himself of the panel days ago.

Apart from Ghanwat, agri-economists Ashok Gulati and Pramod Kumar Joshi are the two other panel members.

“We are meeting on January 19 at the Pusa campus. Only members will meet to decide the future course of action,” Ghanwat, who is the president of the Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra), told PTI.

“One of the four members has backed out of the committee. If the apex court does not appoint a new member, the existing members will continue,” he said about Mann.

“The committee has received the terms of reference and will begin the work from January 21 onwards,” he added.

On questions about the government holding talks with the farmers parallely after the appointment of the panel by the SC, Ghanwat said, “We have no issue if a solution is found and the protests end from either (efforts of) our panel or from the government's separate talks with the protesting farmer unions.”

“Let (Government) them continue the discussion, we have been given a duty and we will focus on that,” he remarked.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday the pleas relating to the controversial farm laws and the ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi borders. It may take into account the matter of recusal of the member from the panel.

The top court would also hear the plea of the central government, filed through the Delhi Police, seeking an injunction against a proposed tractor march or any other kind of protest by farmers that may disrupt the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

So far, the government has held nine rounds of formal talks with 41 farmer unions but has failed to break the logjam as the latter have stuck to their main demand of a complete repeal of the three Acts.

In the last meeting, the Centre had suggested that the unions constitute their own informal group to prepare a concrete proposal on the three farm laws for further discussion at their next meeting on January 19 to end the long-running protest at various Delhi borders.