UP sugarcane arrears: Allahabad High Court concludes hearing

Allahabad High Court today concluded its hearing in the Uttar Pradesh sugarcane arrears case, which had dragged on for several months.

The verdict is expected tomorrow. The HC had been hearing a petition filed by Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan convener V M Singh over cane arrears, which currently stand at almost Rs 5,000 crore on private mills.

While, several of the 95 private mills in the state are burdened with arrears, the 23 cooperative and one state sugar corporation mill had settled their dues. The cooperative mills had been given largesse by the state to clear dues.

Pinaki Mishra, who is a Biju Janata Dal (BJP) parliamentarian and a senior Supreme Court lawyer, represented the private sugar mills' body before the HC.

"We have represented our case well before the HC and are confident the verdict would be positive and in the best interests of all stakeholders," an industry official told Business Standard.

In earlier hearings, the HC had come heavily on both the state and mills for failing to settle arrears causing hardships to farmers.

On August 13, the HC had directed mills to liquidate 15 percent of their respective sugar stock within three weeks at the floor price of Rs 3,100/quintal to pay arrears.

In its affidavit, UP Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA) had informed court yesterday 65 of 95 mills had sold nearly 2,35,862 tonnes of sugar till August 31 and collectively deposited over Rs 700 crore with the respective district magistrates.

On August 13, the 65 mills had over 2.248 million tonnes of sugar stock and 15 percent stock would have meant liquidating about 3,37,235 tonnes of the sweetener. This way, the mills had failed to liquidate the requisite quantity of stock.

The mills have been claiming high cane price in UP and unscientific price fixation mechanism was responsible for the crisis in the sugar sector, that supports over 4 million farmers' families. The sector is estimated at Rs 30,000 crore.

State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and UP Cooperative Bank had also staked preferential right on the liquidation proceeds of sugar stock, contending the mills had taken working capital loans based on the stock.