Bill to remove legal ambiguity in pricing of levy sugar

Parliament today passed a Bill to remove legal ambiguity in pricing of levy sugar which the government buys from mills for supply through ration shops.

"This amendment is simply to remove legal ambiguity in the Essential Commodities Act," Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas said in the Rajya Sabha while replying to a debate on the amendment Bill.

Last year, amendments were made to the Act for fixing the levy price on the basis of cane price decided by Centre and not on arbitrary prices determined by mills and growers.

This amendment was effective till September 30, last year. The present amendment extends it to beyond September 2009.

Under the system of partial control, 20 per cent of sugar produced by mills is requisitioned by the government to be sold at ration shops.

Currently, the government buys levy sugar at Rs 17.75 per kg and sells it at subsidised rates to over 6.58 crore ration card holders.

Thomas said the amendment in the legislation was required to plug the legal loophole, which was being used by millers to extract higher levy price from the government.

Participating in the debate, Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) alleged that the Essential Commodities Act was manipulated during the NDA regime in favour of traders.

Instead of amendment in the present Act, "there is an urgent requirement to bring a comprehensive legislation", he said.

Kaptan Singh Solanki (BJP) demanded de-controlling the prices of sugar on the pattern of Brazil and Mexico, which are leading producers of the commodity.

Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Congress) said the government should fix a minimum and a maximum price not only for sugar but all essential commodities, expanding the ambit of items under essential commodities.

T M Selvaganapathi (DMK) said there should be a holistic approach in controlling the price of sugar.

The fair remunerative price (FRP) fixed by government is insufficient, he said and stressed that "farmers need to be protected".

N Balaganga (AIADMK), D Raja (CPI), Prabha Thakur (Cong) and Prakash Javedekar (BJP) also participated in the debate.