Interim stay against refund direction granted where immediate implementation risked rendering the intra-court appeal infructuous.

Notice to respondent No. 3 was dispensed with at the appellants' risk in an intra-court appeal. The court treated interim protection as necessary because implementation of the impugned refund direction could have rendered the appeal infructuous. The order directing refund was therefore stayed until the next date of hearing.

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Issues: Whether notice to respondent No. 3 could be dispensed with and whether the impugned order directing refund of Rs. 15,82,41,007/- should be stayed pending the next date of hearing.

Analysis: The memorandum seeking dispensation of notice was accepted, and notice to respondent No. 3 was dispensed with at the risk of the appellants. Considering that the appeal was an intra-court appeal and that implementation of the impugned refund direction could render the prayer in the appeal infructuous, interim protection was found appropriate till the next date of hearing.

Outcome: Notice to respondent No. 3 was dispensed with, and the order dated 07.08.2018 was stayed till the next date of hearing.

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