HC dismisses petition challenging UP cane price

The Allahabad High Court On Monday dismissed the Indian Sugar Mill Association’s (ISMA) petition challenging the sugarcane price announced by the Uttar Pradesh government this crushing season.

Observing that the state was the best judge to evaluate the cane price, a division bench comprising Justices Arun Tandon and Dilip Gupta rejected the petition filed on November 4, 2008.

Earlier, the court had reserved the order on November 25 after hearing the two sides at length. The bench said the petitioner had failed to substantiate that the government had acted arbitrarily in fixation of price and also the association could not satisfy the court that they were running in losses to afford the cane State Advised Price (SAP).

ISMA had challenged the hike in cane SAP by terming it arbitrary and finding fault in the method to arrive at the price. Announced on October 18, 2008, SAP this year had witnessed a record hike of Rs 15 a quintal over last year.

For the 2008-09, the government has announced SAP of Rs 137.50 a quintal of cane for rejected variety, Rs 140 for general variety (up from Rs 125).