The Bench, comprising Justice Pradeep Kant and Justice S S Shukla, today directed the Cane Commissioner Kamran Rizvi to personally appear in the court on Tuesday.

For the current cane-crushing season, the state government had fixed the State Advisory Price (SAP) at Rs 125 per quintal for the common variety and Rs 130 per quintal for the early variety of sugarcane. But the Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association and a few other private sugar mills had challenged the SAP in court. In an interim order on November 15, the court had directed the sugar mills to pay cane farmers Rs 110 per quintal of sugarcane.

However several private mills, citing the low price of sugar in the open market, declined to comply with the court orders. On January 2, Rizvi had issued a notice to several private mills refusing to pay the fixed price. The notices were issued under the provisions of the UP Sugarcane Regulation of Supply and Purchase Act, 1953 and Uttar Pradesh Vacuum Pan Sugar Factories Licensing Order, 1966. In Uttar Pradesh, if the mills defy the orders of the licensing authority then they are liable to be prosecuted under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.