HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD Civil Misc. Writ Petition No.26291of 2004 West UP Sugar Mill Association and others Petitioners State of UP and others Respondents Connected with 1. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 29684 of 2004 2. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 29702 of 2004 3. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 35680 of 2004 4. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 35696 of 2004 5. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 37860 of 2004 6. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 37861 of 2004 Advocate for the Petitioners Shanti Bhushan, Senior Advocate Bharat Ji Agrawal, Senior Advocate Yashwant Verma Sanjai Kumar Pathak Ashutosh Khaitan Piyush Agrawal Bharti Sapru Advocate for the Respondents Sudhir Agarwal, AAG UP, Senior Advocate Shashi Nandan, Senior Advocate CS Singh, SC Subhash Rathi, SC Ravindra Singh KR Sirohi Coram Hon'ble Yatindra Singh, J Hon'ble VS Bajpai, J Date of Judgment 7.10.2004 Judgment (Delivered by Hon'ble Yatindra Singh, J) 1. The question--whether the State government has power to fix state advised price of sugar cane (SAP)--has been answered in affirmative by the Supreme Court in UP Cooperative Cane Union Federation vs West UP Sugar Mill Association 2004(5) SCC 430 (the SAP case). The questions involved in these writ petitions are offshoot to the decision in the SAP case and relate to the validity of the GO dated 30th June 2004 (the impugned GO) providing SAP for the crushing season 2003-04. THE FACTS2 At present, following Acts/Rules/Order are relevant for purchase, sale, and fixing price of sugar cane. I. The UP Sugarcane (Regulation of Supply & Purchase) Act, 1953 (the 1953 Act). II. The UP Sugarcane (Regulation of Supply and Purchase) Rules, 1954 (the 1954 Rules). III. The UP Sugarcane Supply & Purchase order, 1954 (the 1954 Order). IV. The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (The EC Act). V. The Sugarcane Control Order, 1966 (Central) (the 1966 Order). 3. The legislative history prior to aforesaid enactments has been narrated in Tika Ram Vs. State of UP; AIR 1956 SC 676 (the TikaRam case). It explains that initially Central legislature enacted Sugar Cane Act, 1934. It was repealed by the UP Sugar Factories Control Act 1938. These acts had conferred power on the State Government to issue minimum price to be paid to the cane growers. However Indian Legislature enacted Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946; it remained in force till EC Act was enacted. Section 3(2)(i) of this Act gave power to the Central government to fix price of sugar cane. Subsequently Sugar and Gur Control Order 1950 was framed and it also gave power to Central government to fix price of sugar cane. The central government had been fixing minimum price for sugarcane (SMP) under these provisions till the EC Act was enacted when the Central Government started fixing SMP under it. 4. After enactment of the EC Act, Sugar and sugarcane were declared essential commodities under this Act. Initially, the Central Government had framed Sugarcane Control Order, 1955 (the 1955 order).