( 1 ) THIS is an application filed by the Defendant under Section 442 of the Companies Act for the stay of proceedings. It is predicated on the fact that a winding up petition had been admitted and citation has also been issued. The winding up petition, however, was filed on 30/01/1997. Even if this contention of the Defendant was otherwise well-founded it ought to have approached the Court with expedition, and certainly within a period of three years of the relevant event. This has not been done and accordingly the application can be dismissed on this short point. However, my attention has also been drawn to a decision of the Hon ble Supreme Court in The Official Liquidator v. Dharti Dhan (P) Ltd. , AIR 1977 SC 740, in which it has beenobserved that the passing of orders staying proceedings should not be carried out in a mechanical manner. The Apex Court specifically enjoined that if it appears to the Court that the application had been filed with the intention of the delaying the proceedings, it should not be permitted. Learned counsel has also relied on Basumati Mahajan v. Foremost Industries India Ltd. , 1995 (34) DRJ 732 where, following the previous decision inc