The cane farmer associations - whether it be the mighty BSCFA, or the emergent Progressive Sugar Cane Farmers or the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers - to deliver sugar, farmers have to be a part of one of them. But do they really?
That's what Russell Navarro and BSI went to court to challenge.
And in what could be a landmark decision Justice Patricia Farnese found that the requirement in the Sugar Act that to deliver cane farmers have to be members of an association of cane farmers is unconstitutional.
The BSI also argued that the requirements to pay annual levies to the Sugar Industry Control Board (SICB) and an export levy violate their right to property.
And Justice Farnese found that the requirement for BSI to contribute to financing the SICB is also unlawful and unconstitutional.
The ruling could provoke substantial change in the industry. No costs were awarded. Godfrey Smith appeared for Navarro and BSI, while Asst. Sol. Gen. Samantha Matute appeared for the government.
