that the investigation was carried out by the Department, which revealed existence of hawala transactions. The observations made in para (6) cannot be said to be prima facie or tentative. The Tribunal should be aware that the First Appeal is still pending before the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax (Appeals). He has yet to apply his mind to the merits. All that was under consideration of the Tribunal was a direction of pre-deposit. There, the pre-deposit amount was determined as Rs.68,95,367/-. If this was the position and the request was to bring it down to appropriate and reasonable sum, we do not see any justification for the Tribunal to then go into the merits and express such opinion as would influence the outcome of the Appeal. The Tribunal could have imposed a reasonable condition or a right of appeal ought to be preserved and not rendered illusory by an arbitrary and excessive direction. It would mean that the Appellant, if not complying with the order or pre-condition, will loose an opportunity to convince the Appellate Authority on the merits. Whether, indeed, this was a case of hawala or that was a mere allegation but unsubstantiated, then, it is for the first Appellate Authority to pass an appropriate order.
