- (1.) By means of the present writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 9-8-2001 passed by the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi, filed as Annexure A6 to the writ petition, whereby the Tribunal has declined to grant interim protection to the petitioner during the pendency of their reference before this Court. We have heard Shri A.P.Mathur, learned Counsel for the petitioner, and Shri Subodh Kumar, learned Counsel appearing for the respondents and have perused the averments made in the writ petition and its annexures as also the counter affidavit and the rejoinder affidavit exchanged between the parties.
(2.) From a perusal of the order of the Tribunal, we find that the Tribunal has rejected the application on two grounds, namely, that the petitioners have not advanced any ground other than the one that the High Court had directed the question of law arising out of the decision of the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal be referred to them and on deposit of Rs. 50,000/- they were allowed the stay of the balance of the amount adjudged against them even before the disposal of their appeal. Further, the petitioners have not specified the amount in respect of which the stay is being sought for. The other ground on which the stay application has been rejected is that Section 35N of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") mandates the deposit of entire amount pursuant to the order passed by the Tribunal under sub-section (1) of Section 35C of the Act.
(3.) We have perused the stay application which was filed by the petitioners before the Tribunal, a copy of which has been filed as Annexure A5 to the writ petition and we find that except for giving general reasons seeking stay of demand, the petitioners have not mentioned their financial position nor any undue hardship which is likely to be caused if the stay order is not granted. We, therefore, do not find any error in the order of the Tribunal rejecting the petitioners' application for grant of stay on this ground.;