The Supreme Court on Monday declined to extend the deadline for sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh to make their sugarcane payments for the crop season that ends this September, a senior industry official said.
?We had asked for extension of deadline by another eight weeks, which was declined by the court,? the official on conditions of anonymity said.
The court had earlier extended the deadline for clearing sugarcane arrears in 15 days for mills in Uttar Pradesh that expired on Monday, however, some millers had approached the court for further extension of the deadline.
The court in an interim order last month had asked millers to pay sugarcane arrears at Rs 110 per 100 kg for the year ending September 2008. This was the same price fixed by the Allahabad High Court last year. This price is lower than the sugarcane price fixed by the court for 2006-07 season, also lower than the state advised price fixed by state government.
SAP is the minimum price fixed by the state that the millers must pay to the farmers to procure cane.
Uttar Pradesh is home to some of the largest sugarcane companies like Bajaj Hindustan, Balrampur Chini Mills and Dhampur Sugar Mills.
Many mills in the state have not been able to make the cane payments in time this year because of surplus production and fall in retail prices. India is expected to produce around 26 million tonne to 27 million tonne of sugar this year, much higher than the usual local consumption of around 20 million tonne to 21 million tonne.