CHENNAI: The first bench of the Madras High Court has ordered notice on a PIL challenging an order dated September 11, 2015 of the State Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise, who imposed certain restrictions on the production of ethanol by the sugar mills in the State.
The bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh ordered a four-week notice period while admitting the PIL from the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association, by its president R Vridhagiri of Melapalayanur village in Cuddalore district, on Wednesday.
Petitioner challenged the September 2015 order insofar as it directed the sugar mills to produce only 50 lakh litres of ethanol and allotted only a meagre 17,000 MTs of molassess and conversion of 10 lakh barrels of impure spirit.
Consortium counsel S Prabakaran contended that the order infringed upon the right of the sugar cane farmers in the State. The livelihood of sugarcane farmers is wholly dependent on the sugar mills. The impugned order placed the sugar mills and consequently the farmers in a disadvantageous position. It will make the sugar produced by the mills in the State unviable and uncompetitive in the market and result in import of sugar from other States. Hence, it violates Article 14 (equality) of the Constitution. It is issued without any basis whatsoever, as it falls short of the centrally allocated 20.18 crore litres and is clearly opposed to the principles laid down by the Supreme Court, which states that Industrial Alcohol falls within the purview of the Union government, Prabakaran argued.
When the matter came up today, the bench impleaded the Union Ministries of Environment and Forest and Agriculture in New Delhi, TN Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and the South Indian Sugar Mills Association as necessary parties and adjourned the matter to March 29.