UP sugar mills in HC over 'cane reservation' meet

Asks govt to defer meeting till court verdict

The Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA) has filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court challenging the sugarcane reservation meetings in the state.

The petition, likely to be heard on Tuesday, seeks relief in the form of determination and declaration of cane price in the state before such meetings - scheduled to begin on Monday - were held. Cane reservation meetings allocate cane area to individual mills before crushing season.

"We have also prayed that no coercive measures are taken against sugar mills," UPSMA secretary Deepak Guptara told Business Standard.

The association has further written to the state government informing about the petition preferred before the HC. It has urged the government to "defer the reservation meetings proposed to be held from September 16 and kindly await the decision of the Hon'ble High Court."

The letter reiterated demand for the determination and declaration of cane price for 2013-14 season based on the cane price paying capacity of mills and considering "other relevant factors to enable us to consider our requirement of cane and submit our proposals."

Every season, UP announces state advised price (SAP), which is much higher than the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of the Centre. The mills have to compulsorily pay SAP to farmers for procurement.

The millers claimed their payment capacity had seriously been impaired in UP due to higher cane price vis-à-vis sugar prices. They want correlation between cane and sugar prices in UP, which accounts for 30 per cent of India's sugar output.

Currently, about Rs 2,500 crore are pending on private mills in arrears pertaining to the 2012-13 crushing season.