The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has issued a “simple notice” to Sugar Commissionerate Vipin Sharma while hearing a contempt petition filed by Prahlad Ingole- the Nanded district president of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana. Ingole had filed the petition over the delay in deciding the payment of interest on cane dues by the 23 mills in Nanded division for the crushing season of 2014-15.
Failure of mills to pay the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) to cane growers last year has lead to mills running into cane dues worth over Rs 3,000 crore at the start of the present crushing season. As of now, the mills in Nanded region have unpaid dues worth Rs 25 crore.
Ingole had moved the Aurangabad bench of the High Court asking for payment of interest on cane dues last year. As per the Sugarcane Control Act, 1966, mills have to pay interest on dues, in case payment of FRP is not made within 14 days. While the Act has the mention of payment of interest, it has been rarely invoked in the state. Ingole, back in 2015, had moved the Aurangbad bench of the High Court to seek payment of interest on dues.
The High Court in its order had pushed the ball in the court of Sharma, to decide the matter in a time bound manner. Sharma, during the course of the hearing, had ordered the regional joint director (RJD) of Nanded to calculate the interest. Meanwhile, seven mills in the region had moved the high court over payment issues, which has halted the process of Sharma’s decision-making. An aggrieved Ingole has thus moved the high court to initiate contempt proceedings against the commissionerate.
As mentioned above the two-judge bench has issued a “simple notice” to the commissionerate which has to be answered by March 17. “Mills should pay the farmers their dues,” said Ingole. Meanwhile, mills in the state have started closing down with water and cane scarcity making its presence felt. As of Thursday, 20 mills have closed their operations, with Pune region having the highest number of mills, which is eight.
As many as five and six mills in Aurangabad and Nanded division respectively have also ceased operations. With 177 mills in operation (99 cooperative and 78 private), the state has seen crushing of 526.56 metric tonnes of cane and 569.24 lakh quintals of manufactured sugar.