Judgment :- K. Raviraja Pandian, J. In this writ petition the correctness of the order passed by the Tamil Nadu Taxation Special Tribunal is put in issue. By the impugned order, the Tamil Nadu Taxation Special Tribunal set aside the order passed by the petitioner in his proceedings dated 210. 2002 non suiting the petitioner for making an application under section 5 of the Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002 and further directed the petitioner to take the application of the first respondent on file and proceed further in accordance with law. 2. The facts culminating in filing of this writ petition is as follows : The first respondent was the assessee and doing business in aluminium clamps and warps. For the assessment year 1995-96 the assessing officer passed a revised order levying tax at 8% on the sale of Aluminium clamps and warps sold to Electricity Board with a liability of tax of Rs.7,841/-, surcharge Rs.1776/- and penalty at Rs.11,271/-. The first respondent assessee filed an appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Madurai (North) in AP. No.33 of 2000 and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, by order dated 16.03.2000 allowed the appeal. The State, not accepting the order of the first appellate authority, filed the second appeal in STA No.128 of 2000 before the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, Madurai and it was pending. In the meantime, the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the 2002 Act) came to be enacted and the first respondent assessee opted to settle the disputes in terms of the said Act and made an application for settlement under section 5 of the 2002 Act. The said application was rejected by the petitioner, the designated authority under the Act by his order dated 210. 2002. Questioning the correctness, the first respondent filed OP No.1090 of 2002 before the Tamil Nadu Taxation Special Tribunal, which by its order dated 18.06.2003 set aside the order of the petitioner dated 210. 2002 and directed the petitioner to entertain the application. 3. The learned Government Pleader appearing for the petitioner submitted that as per the provisions of the 2002 Act, the condition precedent for entertaining the appeal is that an appeal or revision has to be pending on the crucial date of 28.02.2002. 2002 and directed the petitioner to entertain the application. 3. The learned Government Pleader appearing for the petitioner submitted that as per the provisions of the 2002 Act, the condition precedent for entertaining the appeal is that an appeal or revision has to be pending on the crucial date of 28.02.2002. The appeal pending in this case was not the appeal filed by the first respondent assessee on the contrary, it was the appeal filed by the State aggrieved against the order of the first appellate authority. Hence, the order of the designated authority is correct. The Special Tribunal went in a wrong tangent and granted the relief. He further contended that as the first respondent assessee has succeeded before the first appellate authority there is no liability to any tax component or penalty and as such, the first respondent cannot be regarded as an aggrieved person. In the absence of any tax liability on the part of the first respondent assessee the assessee cannot maintain an application under the provisions of the 2002 Act for settlement of disputes. Hence, the order of the designated authority in non suiting the assessee for settlement of disputes is correct. The order of the Special Tribunal is against the very scheme of the Act. However, learned counsel for the first respondent assessee argued for sustaining the impugned order of the Special Tribunal. 4. We heard the learned counsel on either side and perused the materials available on record. 5. Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002 reads as follows : 4. Eligibility for settlement - .(1) Subject to the other provisions of the Act, an applicant may make an application for settlement of arrears of tax, penalty or interest in dispute in respect of any period for which an assessment has been made under the relevant Act, - .(i) against which an appeal or revision has been filed on or before the 28th day of February, 2002 before any appellate authority or revisional authority, as the case may be, and pending before such authority on or before the date of making an application under section 5; .(ii) against which an order in appeal or revision is received by the dealer on or before the 15th day of February 2002 and further appeal or revision is filed and pending before making an application under section 5. .(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), an applicant shall not be Explanation -- For the purpose of this Act, appeal or revision shall not include writ or writ appeal. eligible to make an application for settlement of arrear of tax, penalty or interest in dispute in respect of any period under the relevant Act for which the appeal or revision has been finally heard by the appellate authority or the revisional authority, as the case may be." 6. As per clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act 2002, pre requisite for filing an application under section 5 of the Act is that as against the assessment order passed under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act or the Central Sales Tax Act, the appeal or revision should have been filed on or before 28.02.2002 before any appellate authority or revisional authority as the case may be, and it should be pending before the authority on or before the date of making the application under section 5 of the 2002 Act. The terminology "appeal or revision" used in that provision did not distinguish the appeal or revision filed by the assessee as against the appeal or revision filed by the State. Pendency of appeal or revision before the appellate authority is the only pre requisite but at whose instance the appeal or revision was pending is not regarded as a pre requisite, on the reading of sub section (1)(i) of section 4. 7. The other contention that when there was no tax liability on the part of the first respondent assessee since the first appellate authority has granted the relief in his favour and thus he is not entitled to invoke the provisions of the 2002 Act, also cannot be accepted. It is true that the first respondent has succeeded before the first appellate authority, but the matter did not end there. The State having filed an appeal to the second appellate authority, the Tribunal, questioning the correctness of the order passed by the first appellate authority, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, in the event of States succeeding in the appeal, the first respondent assessee has to pay the tax, other tax component and penalty as per the decision of the second appellate authority. The first respondent, in order to avoid hustle, filed an application under section 5 of the Act and offered to pay 50% of the disputed amount in the second appeal which is in a way favourable to the State also. 8. The Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002 came to be enacted for the purpose of expeditious settlement of disputes relating to arrears of tax, penalty or interest pertaining to sales tax by giving substantial relief for the assessee to settle the matter out of Court. As stated already, even though the first respondent assessee has succeeded before the first appellate authority because of the fact that appeal is pending at the instance of the State before the second appellate authority, the assessee, in order to avoid further conflict or further dispute, is entitled to file an application under section 5 of the 2002 Act as the first respondent assessee is fulfilling the requirement under section 4 of the 2002 Act. Hence, the petitioner has not made out any case for interference with the order of the Special Tribunal. The writ petition is dismissed. No costs. The connected miscellaneous petition is consequently dismissed.