The Supreme Court on Monday gave a relief to the farmers of UP. It has ordered all the owners of Uttar Pradesh to pay cane price at the rate of Rs 110 a quintal for the current season. Mill owners have to pay separate transportation charges to the state farmers.

The judgment in this regard is delivered by the bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice H S Bedi.

The court has also kept reservations on the rulings of Allahabad High Court on the cane price issue.

The bench has given a time of four weeks to both state government and the mill owners to submit their reply. The court also directed to clear all the previous payments. Some mills have not paid payments of previous crushing season of 2006-07.

The state advocate, Viplav Sharma said that the state farmers are switching to other crops due to non-payment of their previous dues. The advocate also objected the intervention of courts in price fixation.
 
He said that the state is fixing the price of cane since 1973-74 on the recommendations of the state advised price (SAP) committee.