IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND FOUR PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE BILAL NAZKI And THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE S.ANANDA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 17422 of 2004 Between: M/s. Mandava Raghava Rao, Throvagunta Works Contractor, Ongole. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, (Legal) Hyderabad. 2 The Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Nellore. 3 The Commercial Tax Officer, No.1, Ongole. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate writ or order or direction particularly in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring that the order of the 1st respondent in CCT Ref No. LV (1)/1226/2004 dated 25-8-2004 as arbitrary, unreasonable and unjustified and restrain the 3rd respondent from taking any coercive steps for collecting the disputed demand of Rs. 4,45,251/- for the assessment year 2001-2002 under the APGST Act, pending disposal of the appeal filed by the petitioner before the STAT. Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. BHASKAR REDDY VEMIREDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR COMMERCIAL TAX The Court made the following: ORAL ORDER: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice Bilal Nazki) Heard learned Counsel for the parties. With their consent, the Writ Petition is disposed of at this stage. The controversy is that pending appeal, application for stay was dismissed by the competent authority. We have gone through the record and heard learned Counsel for the parties. We feel that the interest of justice would have been met if stay was granted pending appeal, subject to deposit of half of the liability minus the amounts already paid. Therefore, we set aside the order of the authority and direct that half of the disputed tax liability shall be paid by the petitioner within a period of eight weeks. For six weeks, there shall be an unconditional stay and the stay shall continue till disposal of the appeal, provided the amount is deposited within eight weeks. The deposit of amount shall be without prejudice to the rights of the petitioner in the appeal. Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs. _______________ ( BILAL NAZKI,J) _____________________ (S.ANANDA REDDY,J) 28th September, 2004. Note: Issue operative portion by wire at party’s costs. (B/O) Tsy/kvh To 1 The Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, (Legal) Hyderabad. 2 The Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Nellore. 3 The Commercial Tax Officer, No.1, Ongole. 4 Two CCs to the GP for Commercial Tax, High Court Buildings, Hyderabad (O.U.T.) 5 Two CD Copies.