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Judgment
C. Hari Shankar, J.
This writ petition assails orders dated 8 December 2025 and 6 May 2026 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal1 in OA 924/2025.
The order dated 8 December 2025 of the Tribunal was earlier challenged before this Court, albeit at the instance of certain other applicants before the Tribunal, in WP (C) 238/2026. That writ petition was dismissed by a Coordinate Bench of this Court by order dated 16 January 2026. The order dated 6 May 2026 reproduces, in extenso, the order dated 16 January 2026 of this Court in WP(C) 238/2026 and reads thus:
“A written submission is stated to have been filed. Learned counsel for the parties have drawn our attention to the order dated 16.01.2026 passed by the Hon'ble High Court W.P. (C) No. 238/2026, which reads as under:
"1.The present Writ Petition has been filed by the Petitioners seeking setting aside of the order dated 08.12.2025 (hereinafter referred to as the 'impugned order’) passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No. 924/2025.
2.Learned counsel appearing for the Petitioners submits that the interim stay against holding of the DPC meeting has been vacated by the Tribunal and the Respondents have been permitted to proceed with promotions under the impugned Recruitment Rules, which is likely to prejudice the case of the Petitioners.
3.This Court has considered the aforesaid submission
4.Pertinently, the O.A. filed by the Petitioners is listed before the learned Tribunal on 20.01.2026 for further consideration. Moreover, any promotion effected during the pendency of the O.A. shall remain subject to the final outcome of the said O.A.
5.In view thereof, this Court does not find any ground, at this stage, to interfere with the impugned order.
6.Accordingly, the petition stands dismissed" Learned counsel for the applicant submits that, on the last date of hearing, i.e., 25 .02.2026, the present matter was heard by a Bench comprising Hon'ble Member (J) along with Hon'ble Mr. Chhabilendra Roul, Member (A), and it was clearly observed that no further adjournment would be granted to either party. However, at the time of hearing, the aforesaid order passed by the Hon'ble High Court was not brought to the notice of the Bench.
We also observe that the matter had earlier been heard at considerable length on 08.12.2025 by the Bench comprising Hon'ble Mr. Sanjeeva Kumar, Member (A) and Hon'ble Mr. Ajay Pratap Singh, Member (1). Further, we note that on 17.02.2026 liberty had been granted to the respective parties to mention the matter, if so required.
In view of the above, let the matter be listed before the appropriate Bench which had heard the matter in detail on 08.12.2025.
List on 21.05.2026. The date has been fixed at the convenience of the learned counsel for the respective parties.”
Inasmuch as the order dated 8 December 2025 has already formed subject matter of challenge in WP (C) 238/2026 which was dismissed as being devoid of merit, there is no question of this Bench, which is a Coordinate Bench, revisiting the correctness of the order dated 8 December 2025.
In so far as the order dated 6 May 2026 is concerned, all that it does, merely relist the matter, before the Bench which was earlier seized of the matter on 21 May 2026.
We do not see how, within the ambit of the law declared by the Supreme Court in L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India2, such an order can form subject matter of a legitimate challenge under Article 226 of the Constitution.
The writ petition is accordingly dismissed in limine.
