Hearing on a contempt petition filed regarding farmer suicides and State Government reportedly not paying the farmers on time for the produce, the high court of Uttarakhand has sought clarification and more details from the State Government.

Hearing the petition on Monday, the HC sought clarification on the affidavit submitted by the state’s chief secretary.

The chief secretary had stated that farmers had been paid for their produce till April 15, 2019.

The petitioner’s counsel informed the court that the State had not paid the farmers Rs 700 crore and Rs 200 crore for 2019 and 2018 respectively. Further, the farmers commission had not yet been formed by the government.

The government’s counsel informed the court that the commission had not been formed due to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The farmers commission would be constitution after conclusion of the elections.

It should be mentioned here that Ganesh Upadhyay had filed a contempt petition in the high court stating that the government was consistently ignoring the interests of the farmers.

The government is yet to clear dues of the sugar cane farmers of Udham Singh Nagar district.

The petitioner further said that the government had not implementing the directions of the court issued on April 26, 2018.

Advocate Sandeep Tiwari said that in the past the court had ordered the government to form the state farmers commission within three months for the welfare of farmers.

Further, minimum support price should be paid to the farmers as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan commission.

The court had also directed the state government to draft a policy for crop insurance to compensate farmers for damage to crops due to climatic factors. The government could also charge premium on minimum rates from farmers for this purpose, the court had stated.