Menthol exporters in Uttar Pradesh have moved the Commerce Ministry in connection with the show cause notice issued to some of them on supply of mentha oil to industries in Jammu.

\"Your office is well aware that only in Meerut-II Commissionerate, show cause notices have been issued on grounds that suppliers of mentha oil have not supplied to Jammu based industries due to some anomalies. The industries in Jammu have also alleged that the suppliers did not have proper machinery for the manufacture of menthol powder and their invoices are bogus,\" the suppliers, under the banner of UP Menthol Exporters Association, wrote in a letter to the Commerce Ministry.

\"It is very strange that only exporters in Meerut-II Commissionerate have been issued show cause notices on the above ground but other manufacturers in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and even Noida have been allowed CENVAT and the rebate in similar circumstances. It has been totally ignored that the source of raw material as well as toll records of supplies to each of the manufacturer is one and the same,\" the association rued.

According to the association, this \"anomaly has created a peculiar situation\" and there is \"gross discrimination and ill treatment\" towards the manufacturers in Meerut-II Commissionerate.

Menthol and related allied products are manufactured out of mentha arvensis, a grass which is grown abundantly in western Uttar Pradesh. Of late, it is being grown in some districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh as well, the association maintained.

\"So most of the manufacturing units of methanol and allied products were set up in western part of Uttar Pradesh. Accordingly, manufacturers of methanol in Meerut-II Commissionerate are the mother industry of the product in the Commissionerate,\" it said.

The association requested the Commerce Ministry to look into the matter seriously and \"do the needful to resolve the discrimination\".