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Judgment
Sanjiv Khanna, J.—On 7th February, 2011, it was stated on behalf of the petitioner that they would only like to press prayer (d) in the writ petition. The said prayer reads as under:
(d) For a Writ of Prohibition or a Writ in the nature of Prohibition, such other order or direction, directing the 1st and 2nd Respondents that all adjudication proceedings, if any required, against the Petitioners in relation to the vessels in Annexure-F be commenced, conducted and concluded in any one jurisdiction all together, to ensure that there are no divergent orders.
The Standing Counsel for the Central Excise and Customs was required to obtain instructions and the matter was directed to be listed on 1st March, 2011. At the request of the respondent, the matter was adjourned on 1st March, 2011 to 13th May, 2011.
Today, learned counsel for the respondent has produced before us letter dated 24th March, 2011. The relevant portion of the said letter reads as under:
Please refer to your letter dated 1-3-2011 on the captioned subject.
The matter has been examined. This is to state that the department has been issuing Notification/Order under Sub-section (1) of the Section 4 and Sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Customs Act, 1962 to appoint an officer of Customs to act as a common adjudicating authority to exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed on the officer for the purpose of adjudicating matters relating to Show Cause Notice issued by the concerned Commissionerates/Sponsoring Authorities on the basis of their recommendation to appoint a common adjudicating authority. In the instant case a request from Petitioner has been received by the Board on the subject. The request is under examination.
In view of the aforesaid position, the writ petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondent to decide the request of the petitioner within a period of six weeks from the date copy of this order is communicated. In case of an adverse decision, it will be open to the petitioner to revive the present writ petition.