Stay applications under the Kerala VAT regime must be decided promptly, and recovery is deferred until that decision.

Appellate authorities under the Kerala Value Added Tax Act were directed to decide stay applications filed with the appeals within one month. Further recovery proceedings were ordered to remain deferred until those stay applications were disposed of. The operative effect is that coercive recovery cannot proceed before the appellate authority rules on interim relief, ensuring the appeals are considered alongside the stay requests without immediate enforcement pressure.

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Issues: Whether the appellate authority should be directed to decide the stay applications filed along with the appeals under the Kerala Value Added Tax Act, and whether recovery proceedings should be kept in abeyance till such decision.

Outcome: The writ petition was disposed of by directing the appellate authority to decide the stay applications within one month and by directing the respondents to defer further recovery proceedings until orders were passed on those applications.

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