may be served on the Prefect requiring him to render a decision within 60 days thereafter; if he fails to do so, this is treated as a dismissal of the appeal. The decision of the Prefect was to uphold the appeal and thus to annul the requisition order made by the Mayor of Palermo; the precise terms of the decision will be considered later in this Judgment (paragraphs 75,96,125 and 126). The Mayor of Palermo appealed against the Prefect's decision to the President of Italy who, having been advised by the Council of State that the Mayor's appeal was inadmissible, so ruled on 22 April 1972. 42. In the meantime, on 16 June 1970 the trustee in bankruptcy had brought proceedings in the Tribunale di Palermo ("the Court of Palermo") against the Minister of the Interior of Italy and the Mayor of Palerrno for damages resulting from the requisition. The damages claimed were identified as "the considerable decrease in value of the plant and the electronic equipment existing in Palermo at 79 Via Villagrazia, which results from the difference between the book value at the date of the bankruptcy of Raytheon-Elsi, of Lire 6,623,000,000 and the evaluation made on October 11, 1968 (that is, immediately after the six-month period of requisition had elapsed) by the Court Appraiser, Prof. Mario Puglisi, appointed by the Judge by Decree of September 19, 1968, of Lire 4,560,588,400, with a real loss of value of Lire 2,062,411,600 and as the lack of disposability of the plant and relative equipment for six months which, on the basis of the amortization rate for the industrial plants, equal to 10%per year, can be determined in Lire 33,150,000, and, therefore, in the aggregate amount of Lire 2,395,561,600, plus the interests at the legal rate from October 1,1968 to the payment." 43. On 2 February 1973, the Court of Palermo, in a decision to be examined more fully below (paragraphs 57, 58, 97 and 127), ruled that the trustee was not entitled to compensation for the requisition, either in respect of the alleged decrease in value of the plant and equipment, or of the alleged lack of disposability thereof. On appeal, the Corte di Appel10 di Palermo ("the Court of Appeal of Palermo"), in its decision of 24 January 1974, upheld the conclusion of the lower court as regards the damages claimed for the alleged decrease in value of the plant and equipment. It however reversed the finding of the lower court on the second head of damage, and found that the trustee was entitled to compensation from the Minister of the Interior for loss of use and possession of ELSI's plant and assets during the six-month requisition period. It therefore awarded, in effect, a "rental" payment of some 114 million lire, computed as half the annual rate of 5 per cent of the total value of the assets. This decision, which will be examined in more detail below (paragraphs 97,98 and 127), was upheld by the Court of Cassation on 26 April 1975. The amount of