Members of the Uttar Pradesh Sugar Millers Association (UPSMA), have unanimously agreed on filing a legal petition for seeking remedy against the high state advised price (SAP) for sugarcane fixed by the UP government. As a consequence, the UPSMA has on Thursday, written a letter to the secretary of sugar industry and cane development, government of UP informing him that the association is challenging the sugarcane state advised price (SAP) fixed by the state government on Tuesday in the Allahabad High Court. The letter states that the SAP is ?excessively high and much beyond the cane price paying capacity of the factories.?
The state government had fixed the SAP for the season 2011-12 at R240 per quintal for the early varieties and R240 for the normal varieties.
Explaining the need for the association to take such a drastic step, UPSMA secretary, Shyam Lal Gupta has written that ?the Association is challenging the SAP in the Allahabad High Court because it is excessively high and much beyond the cane price paying capacity of the factories and will result in huge losses to the sugar industry.?
He has also written that many member factories of the association have expressed their ?anguish? over the coercive action being taken by the local administration, which has been pressurising them to sign Form C immediately and also start marking the SAP on the mill purchases. ?We would request you to kindly direct the local administration not to pressurise the factories for signing the C Forms and marking SAP on the purchases and to please wait for the orders of the court in this regard.? ?However, in case the factories have to sign the C Forms and mark SAP on the purchases under pressure, it will be without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the factories, before the court,? he added.