"The order is believed to be ready, the hearings are all complete, the appellate authority is believed to have heard both sides to its satisfaction," sources close to Hindustan Lever said. "We are expecting a final order in the case any day now, they added."

It is believed that the finance ministry's appellate authority, which includes finance secretary Montek Singh Ahluwallia, is seeking to wrap up the proceedings to be able to concentrate on other matters involving preparations for the monsoon session of parliament.

The order is going to be crucial, not in amount, but in principle, for the Hindustan Lever, the 51 per cent-owned subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever Plc, and the country's largest consumer non-durables company. The company has come out strongly against a Sebi charge that it indulged in insider trading in courseof completing formalities of its merger with group associate Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd, benefiting parent Unilever Plc in the process.

Levers sources said they were ready for the order, but reserved comment on whether they would go for further litigation in case the order was not in their favour. The first hearing of HLL with the Appellate Authority on the insider trading case was held on April 23. The two-member Appellate Authority comprising of finance secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia and special secretary banking CM Vasudev heard the company's plea. Sebi and HLL were the respondents before the authority, but later the Unit Trust of India became a party to the proceedings when it put in a claim for damages from HLL for losses made.

In its verdict, Sebi had held the company's five directors guilty, and in addition to this the company has been asked to compensate UTI with Rs 3.04 crore. HLL had purchased eight lakh shares of the erstwhile Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (BBLIL) at Rs 350 per share fromUTI two weeks before announcing the merger of BBLIL with Hindustan Lever.