THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO WRIT PETITION No:26495 OF 2001 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) Challenging the order dated 13.9.2001 made in E/Stay/273/01 in A.No.E/498/01/Md, by the Customs, Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal, South Zonal Bench at Chennai refusing to waive the pre- deposit of the entire amount of the Central Excise duty of Rs.31,25,625/- and penalty of Rs.32,81,906/- imposed by the 2nd respondent herein under Section 11A(c) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Rule 173 Q of the Rules and directing the petitioner to pre-deposit a sum of Rs.15,50,000/- towards duty, the present writ petition is filed. The main grievance of the petitioner is that the petitioner- company is a sick unit and the application submitted to the BIFR for reconstruction is pending and the petitioner-company is not in a position to pre-deposit any amount and therefore, the Tribunal is not justified in directing to deposit the amount as a pre-condition to entertain the appeal and to stay the operation of the order impugned in the appeal. The learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that the application for re-construction has been disposed of and the unit has been revived from 2009 onwards and in view of the same, the petitioner-company is ready to comply with the condition of pre- deposit, but however, the amount stipulated by the Tribunal may be reduced to Rs.10,00,000/-. Considering the above submission of the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, we feel it appropriate to direct the petitioner-company to pre-deposit of a sum of Rs.10,00,000/- towards duty, within a period of four weeks from today. On such deposit, the appeal shall be entertained and the recovery of balance amount of duty be stayed. Insofar as the default clause is concerned, the order of the Tribunal remains unaltered. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of modifying the order of the Tribunal to the extent indicated above. ___________________ Justice A. Gopal Reddy ________________ Justice Raja Elango Date: 28.7.2011 Note: CC in one week B/O Nn. THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO WRIT PETITION No:26495 OF 2001 (ORDER delivered by Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) 28.7.2011 Nn