Hyderabad: The state govt told Telangana high court that large-scale financial diversion by rice millers cannot be brushed aside as a mere contractual dispute, and opposed attempts by over 360 millers to quash criminal cases against them.The cases relate to the alleged diversion of paddy supplied for milling and non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 3,960 crore, equivalent to the value of the paddy stocks issued by the govt. There are 3,600 rice mills in the state. Among the cases registered against defaulting millers, most are from Kamareddy, Nizamabad and Nalgonda districts, with defaults ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 100 crore. According to the state, the millers allegedly diverted proceeds from the paddy into other ventures, including film production, real estate, asset acquisition and setting up new mills in the names of family members. The alleged misappropriation surfaced during a civil supplies department probe conducted a few months ago, following which criminal cases were registered. Opposing the petitions, the state urged the court to dismiss them. During the hearing before Justice J Sreenivas Rao on Wednesday, public prosecutor Palle Nageswar Rao submitted that the millers had deliberately defaulted on payments. He argued that the large pending dues were adversely impacting welfare schemes undertaken by the govt. Bank guaranteeNageswar Rao also placed before the court Supreme Court guidelines from a similar case involving millers in Bihar, which mandate submission of bank guarantees before lifting paddy from procurement centres. “While the custom milled rice policy mandates the milled rice be returned to the civil supplies department within 15 days from the collection date, these millers have been dragging the matter since the 2022-23 financial year, burdening the state exchequer,” he argued. The court adjourned the matter for further hearing.
