‘11 SUGAR MILLS ENTITLED TO BENEFITS UNDER 2004 POLICY’

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday allowed 11 writ petitions of sugar mills and held that they are entitled to consideration of all the benefits in the form of exemptions /remission /reimbursement as per the Sugar Industry Promotion Policy (SIPP)-2004 and various notifications issued thereunder from time to time for the entire period of validity of the policy in light of the observations made in the judgment.

The court said since the matter had become quite old, it will be appropriate that the cases may be examined and benefits may be given within a maximum of two months from the date of the order (February 12).

A division bench comprising chief justice Govind Mathur and justice Shabeehul Hasnain pronounced this judgment. These petitions were filed by Mawnana Sugars Ltd, DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd, Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd, Triveni Sugar and Industries Ltd, Dalmia Bharat Ltd, Bajaj Hindustan Ltd Mumbai and Bajaj Hindustan Ltd, Uttam Sugar Mills Ltd, M/S Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd and M/S Dhampur Sugar Mills Ltd.

The sugar mills had challenged the government order (GO) dated June 4, 2007 by which the SIPP of 2004 was withdrawn without assigning any reason or giving any notice to the mills which had already invested large amount of money pursuant to the promises and assurances made by the state government.On sudden withdrawal of the policy, various government departments had declined to extend the benefits to even those who had already been granted eligibility certificate. Aggrieved by sudden withdrawal of the policy, the 11 sugar mills had filed these petitions in 2008.

It was submitted on behalf of the state government that continuation of the policy would cause heavy financial burden on the state exchequer.