New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and sugar producing 16 states to provide their stand regarding a PIL demanding the release of cane dues worth Rs 15,683 crore to the cane farmers in a stipulated period.
After senior lawyer Sanjay Parikh alleged that the farmers are committing suicides due to delay in cane payment, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde agreed to look into the matter.
The 16 states/UTs asked to respond to the petition are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chattishgarh, Telangana, Odisha, Goa, Telangana and Puducherry.
Parikh stated that as many as 5 crore farmers are affected due to delay in cane payments.
