The Supreme Court on Friday said that the responsibility of ensuring farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s stable health condition is on the Punjab government, Live Law reported.

The court also sought an affidavit from the Punjab chief secretary and state’s director general of police taking responsibility for Dallewal’s health situation.

Dallewal has been on an indefinite hunger strike at Punjab’s Khanauri border with Haryana since November 26.

The 70-year-old cancer patient, who is known to have held hunger strikes in the past, had announced the protest on the fourth anniversary of the farmers’ movement against now-scrapped farm laws.

His hunger strike is to press the Union government to accept the protesting farmers’ demands including a legal guarantee for minimum support prices for crops. The minimum support price is the cost at which the government procures agricultural crops from farmers.

The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan on Friday said that the liability of taking a call on whether Dallewal, the leader of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), can be shifted to a make-shift hospital is on the authorities in Punjab. The hospital has been set up 700 m from the protest site.

On Thursday, the court had criticised the authorities in Punjab, saying that they had made insufficient efforts to ensure Dallewal’s health condition remained stable, Live Law reported. The state authorities were told that they must ensure immediate medical assistance for the farm leader without forcing him to break his fast.

On Friday, the state authorities informed the court that Dallewal had cooperated and undergone several medical tests.

While the matter will be next heard on January 2, the court said that the parties could approach it in case of an emergency.

Meanwhile, the farmer leader reportedly approached the court expressing gratitude for its concern about his health and requested assistance to urge the Union government to accept the farmers’ demands, according to The Hindu.

“I also want to bring to your notice that the issues on which we are protesting are not just our demands but are promises made to us by different governments,” Dallewal was quoted as having said in his letter to the court.