‘Sweet’ justice: SHC issues notice to provincial govt in sugarcane pricing case

Growers demand govt to immediately fix crop's rate

HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the provincial government, including the chief secretary, on a farmers' petition over the issue of fixing the price of sugarcane in Sindh.

The high court's Hyderabad bench on Thursday heard a petition submitted by sugarcane growers who complained of exploitation by mill owners as the government continues to delay notifying the crop price.



The 10 petitioners belong to a farmers' association from Tando Allahyar district - one of the largest sugarcane-producing districts in the country with a gross production of around 100,000 tons of sugarcane last year.



The petitioners pleaded the bench, comprising Justice Irfan Saadat and Abdul Ghani Soomro, to order the government to immediately fix the official rate.

"The Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments are paying Rs180 per 40 kilogrammes [of sugarcane crop] but in Sindh farmers are being exploited as they are getting just Rs155 to Rs160," argued advocate Ali Palh, the petitioners' counsel. In November, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the provinces to pay a minimum of Rs180/40kg for the crop but the Sindh government did not comply with the directives. According to the counsel, the representatives of farmers in their meetings with Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah were assured the rate would be Rs185/40kg, an increase of Rs3 from the Rs182/40kg paid in 2014-15.

However, the petitioners claim the chief minister did not fulfill his promise.



The Sindh Sugar Factories Control Act, 2009 stipulates that the government has to notify the rate with the onset of crushing season scheduled to begin on October 1 every year.

The petitioners also brought related problems faced by sugarcane growers to the court's notice, including the late start of crushing season, transportation woes, belated payment by mill owners, under weighing of the crop and undue deductions.

The court ordered the respondents, including the chief secretary Sindh, departments of food, agriculture and industries as well as the cane commissioner to submit their replies at the next hearing on January 7.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2016.