Farmers depart on their tractors to Delhi to participate in a continuing demonstration against the central government's recent agricultural reforms, in Amritsar, India, on Jan 12, 2021. (NARINDER NANU / AFP)

India’s Supreme Court put on hold the implementation of three controversial farm laws, a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde also formed a panel to facilitate talks with tens of thousands of farmers staging protests on the outskirts of the national capital for nearly two months. The judges said they will resume hearing on Monday. The lawyer for one of the big farmers union Dushyant Dave did not join the hearing.

The protesting farmers aren’t happy with the judgment but said they are awaiting a copy of the court’s order before deciding their future course of action

The order, an attempt to find a way out of the stalemate between the government and protesters, comes a day after Chief Justice Bobde said the court was “extremely disappointed at the way the government has handled all this”. Several rounds of talks with leaders representing farmers have failed even as over 60 farmers are reported to have lost their lives braving cold weather.

ALSO READ: India's top court proposes to put 3 new farm laws on hold

The court refused to give more time to the government to find a solution and said the panel will hold discussion with both the parties. This committee will submit a report to the court in two months from the first meeting, which is due to be held in 10 days, the court said.

To soothe fear among protesters, the court ruled that the existing system of government setting a minimum floor price for procurement of certain farm produce will continue and no farmer will be deprived of their land using the new laws. The court said the farmers’ right to protest cannot be stifled even as it urged protesters to return to their livelihood.

The protesting farmers aren’t happy with the judgment but said they are awaiting a copy of the court’s order before deciding their future course of action. They had given a call to march to the capital city on Jan 26. The court on Tuesday also agreed to hear the government’s petition to stop that rally.

“We don’t agree with the committee that has been formed,” said Darshan Pal, a farm leader with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. “We are clear about our demand that the laws must not just be suspended, they should be repealed. Suspending these laws is the right thing to do but our demand that they be repealed altogether remains firm.”

Eight rounds of talks between the both parties have failed to find common ground. The two sides are set to meet next on Friday.

The government maintains that the farmers are being misled and the new laws that lift curbs on who can purchase agricultural produce will remove middlemen and increase farmers income. Modi had in his first term promised to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. 

Protesting farmers, opposition parties, and some of Modi’s allies fear that private companies might replace existing middlemen and the absence of guaranteed government-set minimum price will force them to make distress sales.

READ MORE: Farmers block expressway near Delhi to protest Modi's new laws

Appearing for a group of farmers, lawyer Dave on Monday told the court that more than 400 unions from across the country and over 100,000 people were participating in the protests. “It is a question of farmers’ existence.”

With Reuters' inputs