Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana
Encyclopedia
Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (SMSSK ) known as Sant Muktabai Cooperative Sugar Factory is a cooperative factory
Cane sugar mill
A cane sugar mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar.- Processing :Traditionally, sugarcane processing requires two stages. Mills extract raw sugar from freshly harvested cane, and sometimes bleach it to make "mill white" sugar for local consumption...

 founded by President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...

 Pratibha Patil
Pratibha Patil
Pratibha Devisingh Patil is the 12th President of the Republic of India and first woman to hold the office. She was sworn in as President of India on 25 July 2007, succeeding Dr. A.P.J...

 the nominee of UPA
United Progressive Alliance
The United Progressive Alliance is a ruling coalition of center-left political parties heading the government of India. The coalition is led by the Indian National Congress , which is currently the single largest political party in the Lok Sabha...

 and Indian left for 2007 election for President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...

. The factory is situated at Edlabad in Jalgaon district
Jalgaon District
Jalgaon district is a district of Maharashtra. It was formerly known as East Khandesh district. It has an area of 11,765 km², and a population of 3,682,690 of which 71.4% were rural....

 in Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

.

The factory was registered in 1988 (Regn No JGA/EBD/PRG/ (A)-6 S/88-89). Pratibha was one of the founders of the factory and its chairperson from 1988 to 1996 . Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi...

 inaugurated the factory on 23 January 1999.

Loan defaulter

The sugar factory was given loan by a consortium of four banks, three cooperatives and one nationalised —MSC, DCCB Jalgaon, DCCB Mumbai, and Dena Bank
Dena Bank
Dena Bank is one of the earliest banks in India headquartered in Mumbai.-History:* Dena Bank was founded by the family of Devkaran Nanjee under the name Devkaran Nanjee Banking Company Ltd....

. The factory defaulted in repayment of the borrowed money. The mill owed about 730 million rupees to three banks - Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank, Jalgaon District Central Cooperative Bank and the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank.

The Mumbai Central District Cooperative Bank served many notices on factory for recovering outstanding loan of 177 million rupees.http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?id=96c7cdbd-9376-4f62-89c3-4571eccd8857Who%20will%20be%20India's%20next%20President_Special&&Headline=Pratibha-founded+unit+gets+bank+notice

The bank sealed the factory on January 23, 2007. This was the second occasion when the mill had been sealed. Earlier, it was sealed in January 2006, but was reopened after the board of directors headed by G N Patil - younger brother of Pratibha Patil requested for an opportunity to improve the performance of the mill.http://in.news.yahoo.com/070622/48/6haga.html

Sugar scam

In 2002 the chief commissioner of central excise and customs, Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

, issued notices on 24 sugar factories including Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana to recover 87 million rupees due on account of excise duty evasion. The sugar factories, mostly in Pune and Aurangabad regions, have been found guilty of selling export quota sugar in the domestic market at high prices. These sugar factories have not only availed excise duty exemption of 85 rupees per quintal, but also earned a big differential by selling the sugar in the local market.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/26204689.cms

The scam involved diversion of export-oriented sugar in domestic market. In 2001-02, these co-operatives had obtained export licence for 228,000 tonnes of sugar, but in collusion with export agents, diverted the sugar to the domestic market. This led to the collapse of domestic sugar prices and caused major losses to sugarcane farmers besides excise evasion of nearly 800 million rupees. The Muktabai SSK sugar cooperative factory, Jalgaon, with Pratibha Patil as its founding member and chairperson, was one of the companies which figured in the scam
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/25106654.cms

Public interest litigation

In 2007, Manohar Lal Sharma, an independent advocate, filed a public interest litigation
Public interest litigation
In Indian law, Public Interest Litigation OR जनहित याचिका means litigation for the protection of the public interest. It is litigation introduced in a court of law, not by the aggrieved party but by the court itself or by any other private party...

 petition in the Supreme Court alleging that Mrs Pratibha Patil
Pratibha Patil
Pratibha Devisingh Patil is the 12th President of the Republic of India and first woman to hold the office. She was sworn in as President of India on 25 July 2007, succeeding Dr. A.P.J...

was an undischarged insolvent relating to the Sant Muktabai Sugar Factory and hence disqualified to remain in the office of the presidency.http://www.newstodaynet.com/2007sud/jul07/030707.htm

External links

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