Raju Shetti’s plea in SC for payment of dues to sugarcane producers from sugar mills
Farmers’ leader and former Member of Lok Sabha, Raju Shetti and four others have filed in a plea in the Supreme Court seeking remedial measures for the non-payment of dues for the sale of sugar cane to sugar factories in the country, by growers.
Shetti has pointed out in his petition in the Supreme Court that according to his reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on February 2, 2021, the Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs stated that as on January 1, 2021 sugar mills in the country owe Rs 18,084 crore to farmers, who have supplied sugar cane to the mills.
The petition mentions that India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world, after Brazil and in 2020, India produced 26,605,000 tonnes of sugar. As on September 30, 2020, there were 752 sugar mills in the country, with 330 in the co-operative sector, 43 in the public sector amd 379 in the private sector.
Advocate Krishna Kumar, appearing for Shetti has prayed that the Supreme Court direct the Union of India and the various State Governments, made respondents, to file affidavits setting out the details of the amounts due, the amounts paid and arrears by the sugar mills to the sugar cane grower or their cooperatives for sale of their cane along with interest thereon at the rate of 15 per cent on
year wise for the crushing seasons, 2018-2019, 2019-2020 by the sugar mills to the sugar cane producers ortheir cooperative societies. The petition has also prayed that the Court direct the respondents to place on record the details of action taken against sugar mill/factories for non-payment of dues and arrears along with interest on it, by the sugar mills to the sugar cane growers or to their co-operatives for the sale of sugar cane to the sugar producing mills, as well as action taken against sugar mills for fraudulent diversion of funds received from central or state governments.
The petition has also sought orders for release of ad hoc payment to sugar cane growers against their outstanding dues.
The exhaustively drafted petition has annexed several news reports, answers by ministers in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the report on the Price Police for Sugarcane –Sugar Season 2020-21 and Rangarajan Committee Report, among other documents.
The Rangarajan Committee Report which was submitted on October 5, 2012, recommends regulation of sugar industry, abolition of the quantitative controls on export and import of sugar, removal of outright bans on sugar exports, reviewal of distance norms of 15 km between two sugar mills, removal of restrictions on sale of by-products, and recommended the determination of prices through market forces.
The Supreme Court has issued notices to Union of India and States including States of UP, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana on the petition.