Time limit for settlement orders: failure to decide within the prescribed period causes abatement and restores adjudicatory disposal. The amendment requires that an order on a settlement application under the Customs Act be passed within nine months from the last day of the month in which the application was made, failing which settlement proceedings abate and the adjudicating authority shall dispose of the matter as if no application had been made; the Settlement Commission may extend the period for reasons recorded in writing for up to three further months, and for applications pending on the date of Presidential assent the nine-month period is reckoned from that assent date.