Original application dismissed as withdrawn, with liberty to approach the appropriate forum subject to limitation.

The five applicants, serving as Senior Assistant Loco Pilots in the Madurai Division of Southern Railway, challenged certain departmental orders and related administrative actions through the Original Application.

The matter was listed for consideration of the maintainability of the O.A.

At the hearing, counsel for the applicants sought permission to withdraw the O.A. with liberty to approach the appropriate forum having jurisdiction.

The respondents were represented, but the order does not record any substantive adjudication on the merits of the applicants’ claims.

Whether the applicants should be permitted to withdraw the Original Application with liberty to seek relief before the appropriate forum having jurisdiction.

Whether such liberty should be subject to the applicants explaining any limitation issue in the proceedings proposed to be instituted before the appropriate forum.

The Tribunal applied the procedural principle that an applicant may be permitted to withdraw proceedings with liberty to pursue an appropriate remedy before the forum having jurisdiction.

Such withdrawal does not constitute an adjudication on the merits and does not automatically preserve limitation; therefore, any limitation issue may be considered by the forum subsequently approached.

Since the matter was pending at the stage of examining the Tribunal’s maintainability and the applicants themselves sought to pursue the matter before the competent forum, the Tribunal considered it appropriate to permit withdrawal rather than adjudicate the merits.

The Tribunal, however, expressly qualified the liberty granted by directing that any limitation arising in the proposed proceedings would have to be appropriately explained before the forum approached.

The liberty was expressly made subject to the question of limitation being appropriately explained in the proceedings proposed to be filed.

No determination was made on the merits of the applicants’ claims.