By IANS
Lucknow : Confusion prevails over the fixation of sugarcane price in Uttar Pradesh following an order of the Allahabad High Court quashing the price fixed by the state government.
While the Allahabad High Court Tuesday quashed the price of Rs.125 per quintal fixed by the state for the previous year, cane growers sought application of the same terms for the current crushing season before another bench in Lucknow Wednesday.
However, the matter could not be taken up because the order issued by the Allahabad bench could not be made available before the Lucknow bench until late Wednesday afternoon. Eventually, the two-judge bench comprising Justice U.K. Dhawan and Justice S.S. Chauhan deferred the matter to Jan 6.
The Lucknow High Court had earlier ordered mill owners to pay sugarcane growers at the rate of Rs.110 per quintal for the cane purchased during the current crushing season. However, sugar mill owners were seeking to revert to last year’s offered price of Rs.85.
While a final decision on this year’s price would taken only in the new year, cane growers are extremely critical of not only mill owners but also of the state government.
“This is a reflection of a deal between the state government and the mill owners. They are hand in glove,” said V.M.Singh, leader of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, which is representing the sugarcane growers.
Singh told IANS: “The manner in which the state remained passive throughout the court proceedings shows how the government was virtually sold to the mill owners and had traded off the interest of the cane growers.”