Indian sugar mills association

Sugar cos obtain stay on arrest of execs

Date:	13 Dec 2011

Source:	The Financial Express

Reporter:	Deepa Jainani

News ID:	761

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Lucknow: Almost all sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh against whom the state government had lodged non-bailable FIRs under Section 3/7 of the IPC have obtained a stay from the Allahabad High Court on the arrest of their top executives and officers who had been named in the FIRs.

The major sugar producers against whom named FIRs were issued include Kushagra Bajaj and Shishir Bajaj of Bajaj Hindusthan, Vivek Saraogi CMD of Balrampur Chini, Dhruv Mohan Sawhney MD of Triveni Engineering, RK Morarka MD of Dwarikesh group, etc. Other groups against whom alleged irregularities and malpractices were found were Dhampur, Mawana, Sakseria and Dalmia.

Talking to FE, an official of the sugar industry said that while some groups had obtained the stay last week itself, the rest obtained the stay orders from the Allahabad High Court on Monday. It may be pertinent to note that while the government has launched crackdown on under-weighment of cane and under capacity utilisation of the crushing capacity in the private sector mills, none of the sugar mills in the government sector has been raided.

Stating that the government was indulging in selective clampdown, a miller, on condition of anonymity, said that the sugar industry in Uttar Pradesh was under immense pressure and it was on the verge of collapse. “We have been silently suffering every year but this year, the situation is worse as we are already reeling under the impact of the exorbitant hike in the state advised price (SAP) of sugar as declared by the state government. If immediate steps are not taken, we would be forced to close shop in UP,” he stated.

“The fact that the state government is treating our senior-most executives like petty convicts and issuing non bailable warrants against them shows that the industry and its problems are the lowest priority for the state government,” said another miller, adding that even in case irregularities are found in any factory, it does not mean that the senior officials, who are most often residing outside the state, have a hand in it.

In most cases, local officials and weighment clerks of the sugar factories are involved in it. Punishing top-level executives is a slander, but this has now become a routine affair in the state,” he added.

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