3. Minimum price of sugarcane payable by producer of sugar.
(1)The Central Government, may, after consultation with such authorities, bodies or associations as it may deem fit, by notification in the official Gazette, from time to time, fix the minimum price of sugarcane to be paid by producers of sugar or their agents for the sugarcane purchased by them, having regard to,-(a)the cost of production of sugarcane;(b)the return to the grower from alternative crops and the general trend of prices of agricultural commodities;(c)the availability of sugar to the consumer at a fair price;(d)the price at which sugar produced from sugarcane is sold by producers of sugar; and(e)the recovery of sugar from sugarcane:[Provided that the Central Government or with the approval of the Central Government, the State Government, may, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as specified in Clause 3-A allow a suitable rebate in the price so fixed] [Substituted by Sugarcane (Control) Amendment Order, 1981 (w.e.f. 3.7.1981.)].Explanation. - (1) Different prices may be fixed for different areas or different quantities or varieties of sugarcane.(2)No person shall sell or agree to sell sugarcane to a producer of sugar or his agent, and no such producer or agent shall purchase or agree to purchase sugarcane, at a price lower than that fixed under sub-clause (1).(3)[ Where a producer of sugar purchases any sugarcane from a grower of sugarcane or from a sugarcane growers' co-operative society, the producer shall, unless there is an agreement in writing to the contrary between the parties, pay within fourteen days from the date of delivery of sugarcane to the seller or tender to him the price of the cane sold at the rate agreed to between the producer and the sugarcane grower or sugarcane grower's co-operative society or that fixed under sub-clause (1), as the case may be, either at the gate of factory or at the cane collection centre or transfer or deposit the necessary amount in the Bank account of the seller or the co-operative society as the case may be] [Substituted by G.S.R. 94, dated 18th May, 1968.].[(3-A) Where a producer of sugar or his agent fails to make payment for the sugarcane purchased within 14 days of the date of delivery, he shall pay interest on the amount due at the rate of 15 per cent per annum for the period of such delay beyond 14 days. Where payment of interest on delayed payment is made to a cane growers' society, the society shall pass on the interest to the cane growers concerned after deducting administrative charges, if any, permitted by the rule of the said society.] [Inserted by G.S.R. 62 (E)-Ess./Com./Sugarcane, dated February 2, 1978, published in Gazette of India (Extraordinary), Part II, Section 3 (i), dated 2.2.1978, page 110.](4)Where sugarcane is purchased through an agent, the producer or the agent shall pay or tender payment of such price within the period and in the manner aforesaid if neither of them has so paid or tendered payment, each of them shall be deemed to have contravened the provisions of this clause.(5)At the time of payment at the gate of the factory or at the cane collection centre, receipts, if any, given by the purchaser, shall be surrendered by the cane-grower or the co-operative society.(6)Where payment has been made by transfer or deposit of the amount to the Bank account of the seller or the co-operative society, as the case may be, the receipt given by the purchaser, if any, to the grower or the co-operative society, if not returned to the purchaser, shall become invalid.(7)[ In case, the price of sugarcane remains unpaid on the last day of the sugar year in which cane supply was made to the factory on account of the suppliers of cane not coming forward with their claims therefor or for any other reason, it shall be deposited by the producer of sugar with the Collector of the district in which the factory is situated, within three months of the close of the sugar year. The Collector shall pay, out of the amount so deposited, all claims, considered payable by him and preferred before him within three years of the close of the sugar year in which the cane was supplied to the factory. The amount still remaining undisbursed with the Collector, after meeting the claims from the suppliers, shall be credited by him to the Consolidated Fund of the State, immediately after the expiry of the time limit of three years within which claims therefor could be preferred by the supplies. The State Government shall, as far as possible, utilise such amounts, for development of sugarcane in the State.] [Inserted by G.S.R. 62 (E)-Ess./Com./Sugarcane, dated February 2, 1978, published in Gazette of India (Extraordinary), Part II, Section 3 (i), dated 2.2.1978, page 110.]
