JUDGMENT By the Court.—These five appeals have been filed by the department against the order of the Customs Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi dated 20.10.2014 which reads as follows : “On 15.1.2013, waiver of pre-deposit was granted and consequently stayed further proceeding for realization of the assessed liability which is the subject-matter of appeal. The appeal are of the year 2012 and appellant is ready and willing to proceed with hearing of the appeals, we are not inclined to expedite hearing since several older appeals are pending adjudication. In the circumstances, we grant extension of the stay granted on 29.7.2011, to operate during pendency of the appeals.” 2. Order impugned in the connected appeals is more or less identical, therefore, Central Excise Appeal No. 94 of 2015 is treated as leading case. 3. From the order of the Tribunal it is apparent that the Tribunal has directed that the interim order which has been granted in favour of the assessee will continue till the appeal is finally decided. 4. Counsel for the department submitted that in view of the Section 35-C(2A) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (herein after referred to as the Act, 1944), the outer limit fixed for an interim order to be in operation is 365 days. The said provision has been held to be mandatory by a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Commissioner, Central Excise, Kanpur v. Shri Arpit Jain, Director (Central Excise Appeal No. 217 of 2014) decided on 15.10.2014. Therefore, even if the hearing of the appeal could not takes place for no fault of the assessee, the interim order could not be continued beyond 365 days. 5. With reference to the Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Commissioner of Central Excise v. M/s. Barco Electronics Systems Ltd. (Central Excise Appeal Defective No. 107 of 2015) decided on 22.4.2015, it is pointed out that this Court has provided an opportunity to the assessee to make a fresh application for interim stay if his earlier stay order stands vacated because of efflux of time. 6. Counsel for the department, therefore, submits that this Court may modify the order of the Tribunal accordingly and may provide that the said interim order would continue for a period of 365 days from the date it was so made. 6. Counsel for the department, therefore, submits that this Court may modify the order of the Tribunal accordingly and may provide that the said interim order would continue for a period of 365 days from the date it was so made. The Tribunal in turn may be asked to decide the appeal within a time bound period. 7. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the records of the present appeals. 8. Tribunal being a creation of a Statute is bound by the provision under which it has been created. Therefore, the Tribunal does not have the power to pass interim orders in teeth of statutory provision of Section 35-C(2A) of the Act, 1944. The Tribunal is bound to confine the interim orders to the period provided for under the said section i.e. 365 days and nothing beyond it. A Division Bench of this Court in the case of Commissioner of Central Excise (Supra) has held that the provision of Section 35-C(2A) of the Act, 1944 are mandatory in nature. The Tribunal is bound by the same. 9. We, therefore, have no hesitation to hold that the order of the Tribunal insofar as it directs that the interim order would continue till the decision of the appeal must be read to mean that the interim order shall continue for a period of 365 days, in terms of Section 35-C(2A) of the Act, 1944 and nothing beyond it. 10. We are also conscious of the fact that the assessee must not be forced to approach the High Court for extension of his interim order because of expiry of the period of 365 days beyond which the Tribunal cannot extend the interim order. Therefore, following the law laid by the Division Bench of this Court in the case of Commissioner of Central Excise (Supra), we permit the assessee to make a fresh application for stay on or before expiry of 365 days. We further provide that if such second stay application is made, the Tribunal shall endeavour to decide the same at the earliest possible preferably within two weeks from the date a certified copy of this order is filed before it alongwith second stay application. In the meantime no coercive action shall be taken against the assessee because of the expiry of his earlier interim order due to efflux of time only. In the meantime no coercive action shall be taken against the assessee because of the expiry of his earlier interim order due to efflux of time only. The assessee must make the second interim stay application before expiry of 365 days or within reasonable time after its expiry say 15 days. 11. In the facts of this case second interim stay application has not been filed and the period of 365 days has expired, the assessee shall file the same within two weeks from the date this order is brought to his knowledge or copy of the same is filed before the Tribunal. 12. We hope and trust that the Tribunal shall proceed to decide the said excise appeals pending before it, at the earliest possible, preferably within six months from the date a certified copy of this order is filed before it. 13. All the five appeals stand disposed of. ——————