HYDERABAD: The state government has strongly opposed a batch of criminal petitions filed before the Telangana High Court by more than 360 rice millers, seeking quashing of cases registered against them alleging large-scale diversion of paddy and financial defaults.
According to the prosecution, the millers are accused of misappropriating paddy supplied by the government for custom milling and failing to remit dues amounting to nearly Rs 3,960 crore, equivalent to the value of the entrusted stocks. Telangana has around 3,600 rice mills, with a large number of default cases reported from Kamareddy, Nizamabad and Nalgonda districts.
The alleged defaults range from Rs 1 crore to as high as Rs 100 crore per unit.
The state government contended that several accused millers diverted proceeds from the misused paddy into unrelated ventures, including film production, real estate investments, acquisition of assets and even the establishment of new mills in the names of family members.
The irregularities surfaced during a probe conducted by the Civil Supplies department a few months ago, following which criminal cases were initiated.
During the hearing on Wednesday before Justice J Sreenivas Rao, Public Prosecutor Palle Nageswar Rao argued that the defaults were deliberate and had severely strained the state’s finances, affecting the implementation of welfare schemes. He also cited guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India in a similar matter involving Bihar millers, stressing the requirement of furnishing bank guarantees prior to lifting paddy. It was submitted that under the custom milling rice policy, millers are required to return milled rice within 15 days, but the accused have been delaying compliance since the 2022–23 financial year.
Urging dismissal of the petitions, the prosecution stressed the gravity of the alleged economic offences. The court adjourned the matter for further hearing.