• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 15 Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh have got a partial breather with the Allahabad High Court, on Thursday, directing them to pay cane farmers an interim price of Rs 110 per quintal for the current crushing season (October-September).

This is lower than the price of Rs 125 per quintal for normal cane and Rs 130 per quintal for early maturing varieties that was fixed (‘advised’) by the Uttar Pradesh Government on October 31.

A Lucknow Bench of the Court, comprising Mr Justice Udai Krishna Dhaon and Mr Justice Satyendra Singh Chauhan, passed the order for the Rs 110-per-quintal rate, in response to a bunch of writ petitions filed by private mills against the State advised price (SAP).

The SAP of Rs 125-130 for the 2007-08 season was the same as what was fixed during the 2006-07 season, while being higher than the Rs 115-120 per quintal of 2005-06.

The latest court-directed price of Rs 110 per quintal works out below even the 2005-06 season level, though it is still more than the Centre’s Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) of Rs 85-90 at an average sugar recovery of 9.5-10 per cent.

The two-member Bench also directed the mills to start crushing operations immediately and pay the interim rate till the matter is heard again on December 19.

While crushing in Uttar Pradesh normally begins in early November, mills have so far refused to procure cane, saying they were in no position to pay the State-advised price in view of the crash in sugar prices.

More Stories on : Sugar | Courts/Legal Issues

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Additional Rs 50/quintal bonus for paddy

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line