Sugarcane price issue: HC reserves order

Plea against UP support price for 2007-08
Chennai, March 10 The controversy over the State Advised Price (SAP) fixed for sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh seems to be a never-ending one. Even as the Supreme Court on February 27, in its interim order, asked the sugar mills in the State to pay Rs 118 a quintal for the normal sugarcane variety, the Allabahad High Court now faces a tricky situation in passing orders over another batch of writ petitions filed against SAP. The orders were reserved during the hearing last week.
How come a case in the High Court, when another is pending before the Supreme Court, one may ask?. “The case before the Supreme Court pertains to the 2006-07 crushing season that began in October 2006. The case before the Allahabad High Court is with regard to the 2007-08 season,” says Mr Ravindra Singh, who is the counsel for the UP Co-operative Cane Unions Federation.
For the case pertaining to 2006-07, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on November 15 last asked the mills to pay farmers Rs 110 a quintal for the sugarcane they deliver. At least half a dozen public interest litigations (PIL) filed against this order are pending before the Supreme Court. The apex court has listed these petitions for hearing during the last week of March and refused to pass any interim order, saying let the High Court pass the final order.
In between on December 19, the Allabahad bench of the High Court quashed the SAP for 2006-07 and asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to revise it. This implied that it would be enough for the sugar mills to pay the Statutory Minimum Price fixed by the Centre at Rs 80 a quintal. This order was stayed by the Supreme Court on January 17 before passing the February 27 order.
Even as these petitions were being heard, Bajaj Hindusthan, which owns nine mills in Uttar Pradesh, and Basti Sugar Mills moved the Allahabad High Court against the SAP fixed for 2007-08. The Uttar Pradesh Government had on October 30 said SAP for 2007-08 would be the same as during 2006-07.
These petitions were taken up on February 8 and the hearing continued till February 29, when the orders were reserved.
Another petition
On the other hand, a PIL filed by Mr Pritam Singh, former Chairman of the UP Co-operative Cane Development Union, seeking implementation of SAP, has been listed for hearing on March 18 by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. Another petition of Mr Singh, seeking to club all petitions together for hearing by the Chief Justice of the High Court is pending before the registry.
Now, the issue before the Allahabad High Court is what orders should it follow in this petition against SAP for 20076-08. Will it uphold its own order quashing SAP? Will it uphold the Lucknow Bench’s order or will it go by the Supreme Court’s interim order?
“It is an important issue. We have urged the High Court honouring of the apex court order,” says Mr Ravindra Singh.
The next few days should tell us the course of action the Allahabad High Court would prefer to follow.
M.R. Subramani
The Hindu Businessline Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008