hi srividya,
first of all, why aren't u a registered user?
i strongly advise u to resgister and become a
member.
any how! my understanding is that the SCN2698
is an 8 channels uart. now the 80C31 has an
enhanced uart which u're not using, is that right?

honestly to answer ur question i need to have
a schematic of ur circuit connections and a description
of ur design objectives.

mouard