The first rewrite in fifty-eight years.
In August 2024 the Department of Food and Public Distribution published a draft revision of the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966, and gave the industry until 23 September to respond. We used the time to hold two sittings and file a submission.
Rules the industry had worked under since 1966.
The Sugar (Control) Order, 1966 had governed how sugar is produced, stored, moved and sold in India for fifty-eight years. On 22 August 2024 the Department published a memorandum with a proposed replacement and invited comment by 23 September 2024.
A month for an industry to read, argue about and respond to the rules it has worked under since 1966. That is the entire reason we called the session.
Millers and traders do not read this order the same way. So we ran it twice.
Millers
6 September 2024 · KolhapurCooperative and private mill leadership, working through the clauses that touch production, stock and release.
Committee members present included M. G. Joshi, Managing Director, Jawahar SSSK; P. G. Medhe, former Managing Director, Chh. Rajaram SSK; M. V. Patil, Managing Director, Datta SSSK; and Vijay Autade, former Managing Director, Chh. Shahu SSK.
Traders
15 September 2024 · GoaTrading houses and commodity desks, on the clauses that govern movement, sale and dealer obligations.
Committee members present included Mohan Narang, Managing Director, KS Commodities; Rahil Shaikh, Managing Director, MEIR Commodities; Husain Gangardiwala, Director, Najmuddin Trading; and Janeesh Patel, Director, Samarpan Sugar.
Jitu K. Shah, Uppal Shah and Hemant Shah sat in both sittings, with Rahul Desai leading on legal. Designations as at September 2024.
A submission on the public record.
The committee's recommendations went to the Department of Food and Public Distribution, and ChiniMandi published them in full on 23 September 2024.
The Government notified the Sugar (Control) Order, 2025 on 1 May 2025.
The session worked from four documents.
All four were published openly by ChiniMandi: the Essential Commodities Act, 1955; the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966; the draft Sugar (Control) Order, 2024; and a clause-by-clause comparison of the 1966 order against the 2024 draft.