LAHORE: The extended Punjab Sugar Factories (Control) (Amended) Ordinance 2020 protecting rights of sugarcane growers lapsed on Tuesday as the provincial government failed to convert it into law within due time.

Cane Commissioner Muhammad Zaman Khan Wattoo, however, warns the millers that they may still be prosecuted for violating various provisions of the ordinance during the period it was in force.

The ordinance promulgated on Sept 24, 2020 amended the previous ‘toothless’ law to penalise the millers for delaying payment to sugarcane growers more than 15 days of the purchase of their crop or illegally deducting any amount from their dues.

The violators of the ordinance’s provisions were to serve three years in jail and pay a fine up to Rs5 million.

The ordinance was re-promulgated on Dec 23, 2020 when it completed three months of its life. Under the Constitution, an ordinance cannot be promulgated for a third term without approval of the relevant assembly.

A bill seeking to incorporate into the Punjab Sugar Factories Act 1950, the provisions included in the ordinance for protesting rights of the growers is pending with the standing committee of Punjab Assembly.

Under the ordinance, the sugar mills were required to issue a formal receipt for purchase of sugarcane and the dues were to be credited to the grower’s bank account.

Agents, if any, of the mills were also to issue formal receipts for the purchases as informal receipts for the purpose were also declared an offence. Delayed start of sugarcane crushing was also made punishable.

It had empowered the cane commissioner to determine the dues and recover these under the Land Revenue Act if the mills concerned failed to pay within the stipulated time.

Under the previous law, the offences were bailable and non-cognisable as FIR could not be registered against the violating millers.

The cane commissioner, however, told Dawn that the lapse of the ordinance will have no effect for the growers for this year crushing season, which ended a couple of weeks ago.

Arguing that the offences committed during the period when a law was in force can be prosecuted as per that law, he warns the millers that action will be taken against them if they fail to pay the sugarcane growers within the stipulated time for the purchased crop or if they resort to illegal deductions from their dues like in the past under one excuse or the other.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2021