Commodity Online
ALLAHABAD: Confusion prevails over what price mill owners should pay to sugar cane farmers following conflicting rulings from the Supreme Court and Allahabad High Court.

The Indian Sugar Mills Association filed a special leave petition (SLP) with the Supreme Court , challenging an order of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court, which directed mill owners to pay Rs 125 per quintal to sugarcane growers.

The mill owners had earlier challenged this order earlier also and Supreme Court in an interim order had approved a price of Rs110 per quintal.

However, the Allahabad High Court on August 18 gave a conflicting order bringing down the minimum sugarcane price to Rs 86 per quintal. This has created confusion in the prices as it is against the Supreme Court ruling.

The tussle over fixation of sugar cane price between Uttar Pradesh Government and sugar mills have taken a new turn when separate appeals were moved by sugar mill owners and the state government to the Supreme Court over the minimum price of sugarcane.

With the Supreme Court agreeing to hear both the government's and mill owners' petitions September 8, both sides hope the confusion in sugarcane prices would be over soon.

Farmers have already been apid at Rs 110 per quintal when the Allahabad ruling came. Uttar Pradesh Ganna Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (Sugarcane Farmers Action Committee) expressed the hope that the apex court will resolve the confusion very soon.