KARACHI: The legal battle between cane growers and sugar mills’ owners over the official price of current crop took a final turn on Monday when the Sindh High Court observed that there was likelihood of a settlement between the two sides in terms of court’s earlier order.

Headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, a two-judge bench directed the provincial government to inform the court if it was ready to give subsidy to cane growers.According to growers, mill owners were not paying the rate of Rs182/40kg as fixed by the government through a notification. Besides, they did not follow the due procedure in the previous crushing season, the petitioners submitted, adding that the price regulation case, covering the entire range of the issue, was pending before the apex court.

Mill owners have also challenged the notification fixing the price at Rs182/40kg, arguing that millers were not under any legal obligation to give effect to the same as the notified price was not viable and would result in losses to them.

With the consent of both the parties for interim relief, the SHC had on Dec 23 directed the sugar mills to buy the current crop at the rate of Rs172/40kg and deposit the differential amount at the rate of Rs10/40kg with the nazir of the court as security.

On Monday, the court expressed extreme displeasure when it learnt that the issue was not resolved as yet.

Justice Abbasi remarked that it appeared that the provincial government had always favoured mill owners and left cane growers alone.

Advocate General Zamir Ghumro sought time to seek instruction from the provincial government regarding provision of subsidy to growers.

The bench would take up the matter at 11am on Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2018