Pursuant to the notice of motion issued in the morning, Mr. T. Somasundaram, learned counsel for the respondents appeared. By consent, the writ petition itself is taken up for final disposal and disposed of accordingly.


2.The grievance of the petitioner is that in the appeal pending before the first respondent against the orders of the second respondent, an application for stay was filed and in spite of reminders, the first respondent had not taken up the said application and passed orders thereon. The learned counsel for the petitioner also brought to my notice the trade notice, dated 16.4.1985 issued by the Department of Central Excise which reads as follows :


"It has been represented that coercive action to realise arrears from the Assessee is being taken before the expiry of the statutory period for filing appeal. It is clarified that no steps to recover disputed dues will be taken till one month after expiry of the period of appeal, that is to say, upto four months from the date of the adjudication order" *


3.Placing reliance on the above trade notice, the learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner is entitled to the order of stay pending disposal of his appeal by the Appellate Authority, namely, the first respondent. The learned counsel for the respondents submitted that the first respondent can be directed to dispose of the stay petition filed by the petitioner within three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and, in the meanwhile, stay of operation of the order of the second respondent can be granted. But the learned counsel for the petitioner wants a further direction to be given to the first respondent to dispose of the appeal itself within a specified time which is opposed by the learned counsel for the respondents.4.After hearing the learned counsel on both sides, I consider that for the respondent the grievance of the petitioner can be redressed by directing the first respondent to dispose of the stay petition pending on his file. Accordingly, the first respondent is directed to dispose of the stay petition filed by

the petitioner and pending on his file within three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Meanwhile, the order passed by the second respondent will be kept in abeyance. The writ petition is ordered accordingly. No costs.