BILAGI SUGAR MILL LIMITED Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The captioned writ petition is filed by the Sugar Mill seeking a writ of certiorari to quash the order dtd. 31/3/2010 passed by respondent No.1 as per Annexure-H thereby withdrawing 18 villages, which were declared as reserved cane area for the petitioner mill and thereby consequently re-allotting it to respondent No.5-Sugar Mill.

(2.) The facts leading to the case are as under: The petitioner factory obtained a licence from the Government of India for establishing a sugar factory at Badagandi village and under a notification dtd. 18/5/2005, the petitioner mill was allotted with 105 villages as cane command area. Looking to the crushing capacity of the petitioner mill, by another notification dtd. 3/1/2007, eight villages were allotted to the petitioner mill on account of insufficient sugarcane availability to the petitioner factory. Respondent No.1 by impugned notification dtd. 31/3/2010 has withdrawn 18 villages and allotted to respondent No.5.

(3.) The grievance of the petitioner mill is that the respondent No.1 in fact allotted additional 8 villages as the initial allotment of 105 villages was found to be inadequate. Therefore, the petitioner mill contended that in view of the assured cane supply from the reserved command area to the petitioner mill, it entered into an agreement with sugarcane growers and provided basic raw materials as well as financial assistance to the sugarcane growers. The petitioner mill also claimed that it has been receiving considerable assured sugarcane from the said area.