Court orders to pay farmers within three months
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Bombay High Court, Aurangabad Bench, consisting of Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice YG Khobragade, has directed the district collector of Hingoli to collect the outstanding Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) and interest amounts owed by the Tokai cooperative sugar factory. The court gave the orders based on a Public Interest Litigation filed by farmer members of the factory, mandates the payment to sugarcane farmers within 90 days.
During the hearing, the court instructed the collector of Hingoli to recover a sum of Rs 13.81 crore, which represents the FRP due to the farmers for the supply of sugarcane during the 2022-23 season. The court also stated that the interest on this outstanding amount should be collected from the sale proceeds of the factory's products such as sugar, molasses, and bagasse, or by seizing and selling the factory's assets if required. The recovered funds are to be disbursed to the affected sugarcane cultivating farmers.
Advocate Shahaji Ghatol Patil, representing the petitioners, highlighted in court that the sugarcane control order mandates the factory to make FRP payments to farmers within 15 days of the supply. In case of delays, the factory is liable to pay an interest rate of 15 percent. Despite the sugar commissioner's order, the factory management has refused to fulfill their payment obligations.
This has resulted in severe financial losses for the farmers, pushing many towards bankruptcy. After hearing the court gave the above orders.