• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

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

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

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

M.R. Subramani

Chennai, July 6 The Allahabad High Court has rejected a plea from Mr Kushagra Bajaj and other officials of Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd seeking a stay of their arrest for non-payment of dues to farmers for the sugarcane they had supplied to their 16 mills in Uttar Pradesh.

A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Imtiaz Murtza and Mr Justice Vikram Nath, however, asked Bajaj Hindusthan to file an affidavit providing details of the payment the company has made to the cane farmers.

The issue is slated to come up before the Division Bench on Monday.

At least a dozen petitions have been filed by Bajaj Hindusthan officials seeking stay of their arrests by Uttar Pradesh Government officials following the filing of first information reports (FIRs) in various police stations in districts such as Philbhit, Meerut, Basti, Deoria and Muzafar Nagar.

FIRs have also been filed against Bajaj Hindusthan contravening various provisions of Uttar Pradesh sugar laws as well as the Supreme Court order asking sugar mills to clear the dues to sugarcane growers.

While seeking a stay on Bajaj Hindusthan officials’ arrest, the firm’s counsel Mr Sikandar B. Kochar said the company had cleared the entire dues to the growers, except for holding back Rs 10.58 a quintal for transportation of cane to the mills.

Opposing the stay of their arrest, the standing counsel of the U.P. Cooperative Cane Union Federation, Mr Ravindra Singh, pointed out that the Supreme Court, in its order on May 15 this year, had made it clear that the growers be paid Rs 110 for every quintal of sugarcane they delivered without any deduction. He also said the Lucknow Bench of the High Court had also passed orders to the same effect on November 15 last and January 21 this year.

The Additional Advocate General of the Uttar Pradesh Government, in his argument, pointed out that the Supreme Court on June 30 had refused to provide more time to the sugar mills to clear the dues to the growers. The mills were to foot all the dues to the growers by June 30. Stating that extension of time limit was not possible, he also said several cheques presented by Bajaj Hindusthan had been dishonoured.

He said Bajaj Hindusthan should be ordered to make payment towards the dues through drafts along with cane growers-wise bank advices. This would help to disburse the dues to the growers without any delay.

The issue of pending payment to the growers in Uttar Pradesh has been raging for quite sometime. A slew of petitions had been filed in the Allahabad High Court and its bench in Lucknow. The issue was also dragged to the Supreme Court.

The issue has been over the mills contention that the Uttar Pradesh Government cannot fix a State Advised Price (SAP) over the Statutory Minimum Price fixed by the Centre. For 2007-08, the Uttar Pradesh Government has fixed SAP unchanged at Rs 115 a quintal for sugarcane supplied by the growers to the mills.

However, the order asking the mills to pay Rs 110 a quintal of cane is based on an interim judgment of the Allahabad High Court passed in November last year. This is lower than the cane price, ranging between Rs 115 and Rs 123 a quintal, fixed by the apex court for the 2006-07 season and also the SAP fixed by the State Government. A final judgment on the whole issue of sugarcane price is pending.

More Stories on : Sugar | Courts/Legal Issues | Other States

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

Stories in this Section
Bay whirl hangs too far east for south’s comfort

Copyright © 2008, 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