Claims involving settled issues must be considered in accordance with binding precedent within 90 days.

Twenty applicants, consisting of serving and retired officers of the CGST/Central Excise Department, challenged the respondents’ action concerning the same subject matter and reliefs previously considered by the Jabalpur Bench in O.A. No. 869/2025, Mragendra Sharma & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.

The applicants contended that the controversy had already been settled in their favour in the earlier proceedings.

Their counsel submitted that the dispute in the present application was identical to that in O.A. No. 869/2025 and that the difference in dates did not affect the applicable relief.

The respondents did not controvert this submission.

1. Whether the applicants’ claim was governed by the earlier decision of the Jabalpur Bench in O.A. No. 869/2025, concerning the same subject matter and substantially similar reliefs.

2. Whether the applicants were entitled to have their claim considered in accordance with the order of the Hyderabad Bench in O.A. No. 1089/2019, as affirmed in subsequent proceedings.

The Tribunal applied the principle that an issue already conclusively decided by a coordinate Bench and affirmed in subsequent judicial proceedings is no longer res integra.

It relied on the Hyderabad Bench’s decision in O.A. No. 1089/2019, which had been affirmed up to the Supreme Court, and on the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s judgment dated 18 March 2025 in Miscellaneous Petition No. 177/2025.

The Tribunal also followed its own earlier order in O.A. No. 869/2025, Mragendra Sharma & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors., dated 29 January 2026, where similar applications had been disposed of in terms of the Hyderabad Bench’s decision.

The Tribunal accepted the applicants’ uncontroverted submission that the present dispute and the reliefs sought were materially identical to those considered in O.A. No. 869/2025.

Since the earlier order had treated the controversy as settled by the Hyderabad Bench’s decision in O.A. No. 1089/2019, and that decision had been affirmed through subsequent proceedings, the Tribunal held that there was no basis to reconsider the legal issue.

Applying the principle that the matter was no longer res integra, it directed that the present application be dealt with in the same manner as O.A. No. 869/2025.

The applicants were directed to submit a certified copy of the present order along with a copy of the earlier order to the respondents.

The respondents were directed to consider the applicants’ claim in accordance with the observations in the earlier order within 90 days from receipt of the certified copies.

No order was made as to costs.