AN AIRBUS 310 WAS DISPATCHED WITH THE OBSERVER'S AUDIO CTL PANEL DEFERRED AND OUT OF TIME FOR REPAIR.

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ON THE MORNING OF SEP/XY/98 AROUND XA00; I WAS ASSIGNED TO RELIEVE ONE OF THE MECHS WORKING THE ACR CONTRACT FOR YYY AIRLINES. THE ACFT WAS ACFT XYZ. A TURNOVER WAS COMPLETED AND MYSELF AND ANOTHER YYY MECH FINISHED THE LAYOVER CHK. AROUND XD00 ON SEP/XZ/98 I CALLED ACR MAINT CTL IN XXX TO SET AN AUTH FOR DEFERRING AN ITEM ON THE MEL FROM A LOGBOOK WRITEUP THAT THE INBOUND CREW HAD WRITTEN UP. AT NO TIME DURING MY CONVERSATION WITH XXX MAINT CTL WAS I INFORMED THAT THERE WAS AN OPEN MEL ITEM ON THE DEFERRED LOG FOR AN OBSERVER SEAT AUDIO CTL PANEL THAT WAS ABOUT TO RUN OUT OF TIME. ALSO; I WAS NEVER INFORMED THAT PARTS WERE BEING SENT TO FIX THIS PROB. AFTER THE PHONE CALL; RELEASED THE ACFT FOR SVC AND THE ACFT DEPARTED. AFTER THE ACFT DEPARTED XXX; MAINT CTL CALLED AND TALKED TO MY SUPVR ASKING HIM IF WE HAD FIXED THE OBSERVER'S SEAT AUDIO CTL PANEL; AND HAD WE RECEIVED A METER (TELEX) ON PARTS BEING SENT TO FIX THE PROB. TO MY KNOWLEDGE AND EVERYONE ON OUR END; NO ONE HAD SEEN OR HEARD OF PARTS BEING SENT TO FIX THE AUDIO CTL PANEL FOR THE OBSERVER'S SEAT; OR THAT THAT MEL WAS ABOUT TO RUN OUT OF TIME ON THE MORNING OF SEP/XZ/98. THUS; MAKING THE ACFT RELEASE QUESTIONABLE.