(1) A dealer who intends to make an application for settlement of any case to the Settlement Commission,

shall-

(a) in case of any pending case, within one hundred and twenty days from the date of coming into force of this section; or

(b) in any other case, within one hundred and twenty days from the date of receipt of notice of demand, the date of commencement of proceedings under section 88 or the date of registration of a dealer as a sick unit, as the case may be,

apply, in such form, and in such manner, as may be prescribed:

Provided that an appeal, which has been preferred after the expiry of the period prescribed for filing of such appeal, shall not be taken into consideration for the purpose of this section:

Provided further that the appropriate appellate and revisional authority shall not proceed with such case till disposal of the application by the Settlement Commission or till it stands rejected under the provisions of section 8C.

(2) The dealer shall, in his application, state the terms and conditions on which he is willing to settle the case.

Explanation.- the purpose of this section, "case" means-

(a) an appeal under section 79, or a revision under section 80, section 81 or section 82, against an order of assessment passed on or before the 30th day of June, 1996, pending till the date of coming into force of this section;

(b) any proceedings arising out of an offence alleged to have been committed under section 88;

(c) a notice of demand served to a dealer for realisation of tax, interest or penalty, if any, on an assessment which is inconsistent with an assessment made earlier under the Act due to application of different rate of tax in respect of any goods or non-admissibility of a claim of such dealer in respect of this assessment, in spite of the fact that no amendment in the provisions of, or no addition, alteration or modification in the Schedule to, the Act has been made during the period of such earlier assessment and this assessment or in spite of the fact that a particular practice or procedure has been followed by the dealer in respect of such earlier assessment;

(d) a notice of demand served to a dealer for realisation of tax, interest or penalty, if any, on an assessment made under the Act, where the dealer claims by producing verifiable documents that the rate of tax made applicable in respect of any goods in such assessment is different from the rate of tax applicable in respect of such goods under the normal trade practice;

(e) a notice of demand served to a dealer for realisation of tax, interest or penalty, if any, on an assessment made under the Act, where such amount of tax, interest or penalty, if any, remains unrealised on the date of its registration as a sick unit with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.