Summary:
Mathur submitted that there is no rational criteria for fixing SAP and every year it is fixed arbitrarily so much so that last year the FRP was Rs 255 per quintal , whereas SAP fixed by the state was Rs 315 per quintal, which meant a difference of Rs 60 per quintal. Lucknow: A Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court has summoned a special secretary-level officer of cane development and sugar industries department of UP government on November 26 to elaborate the criteria on the basis of which it fixes the State Advisory Price ( SAP) of sugarcane . It is the SAP which prevails over the FRP in view of a high court’s decision, although said decision is said to be under re-consideration, he said. The association’s lawyer JN Mathur had argued that every year a Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) is fixed by the Centre , whereas the state government fixes the State Advisory Price under Section 16 of the UP Sugarcane (Regulation of Supply and Purchases) Act 1953 for purchase of sugarcane from the farmers. Hearing a petition seeking direction for the state government to adopt a rational criteria for fixation of the SAP, a bench of Justice DK Arora and Justice Rajan Roy said, “We would like to see the criteria/basis adopted by the state government for fixing the SAP for the last crushing season and would also like to know as to what criteria/basis is proposed to be adopted this year for the fixation of such prices.”The order was passed on a writ petition moved by UP Sugar Mills Association..