IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION NO : 24271 of 2008 Between: M/s Prashant Sai Builders, H.No. 8-3-318/6, F.No. 501, Yousufguda, Hyderabad - 500 073 Rep by its Partner, Mr. M.V. Bhaskar Rao ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Appellate Deputy Commissioner (CT), Punjagutta Division, Hyderabad. 2 The Commercial Tax Officer (OFA), O/o. Deputy Commissioner (CT), Punjagutta Division, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction declaring the action of the 1st respondent in rejecting the stay application by proceedings, dated 29-10-2008 in Appeal No. P/137/2008-09 without considering any contentions of the petitioner much less not even referring them in the order, as arbitrary, contrary to law and in violation of principles of natural justice and rule of law and consequently grant stay of collection of disputes tax of Rs.18,99,038/- for the assessment year 2004-2005, pending disposal of the appeal before the 1st respondent and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.SHAIK JEELANI BASHA Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR COMMERCIAL TAX The Court made the following : Form-NIC-OGS/WP{RLD} HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A. GOPAL REDDY AND HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION No.24271 of 2008 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A.Gopal Reddy) The petitioner, which is a registered dealer under the A.P. General Sales Tax Act, ﬁled an appeal before the Appellate Deputy Commissioner along with an application for staying the collection of the disputed tax of Rs.18,99,038/- against the assessment orders, dated 29-03- 2008 of the 2nd respondent-Commercial Tax Oﬃcer (OFA), Panjagutta Division, Hyderabad, for the year 2004-05. By the impugned order dated 29-10-2008, the 1st respondent- Appellate Deputy Commissioner (CT) rejected the said application. Questioning the same, the present writ petition is filed. 2. Once the statutory appeal is provided to the dealer and he has ﬁled the same against the ﬁnal assessment order, when the petitioner is forced to pay the entire tax as per the assessment order, the appellate remedy will become nugatory. 3. In view of the same, the interest of justice will be served if the impugned assessment order is stayed on condition of the petitioner deposits 50% of the disputed tax within a period of six weeks from today. On such deposit, the assessment order will be stayed till the disposal of the appeal by the appellate authority. The tax, if any, paid pursuant to the assessment order should be given credit to. 4. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. _________________________ JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY _____________________________ JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR November 06, 2008 Kvr