Petition dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to file afresh if cause of action survives.

The case involved 157 applicants, led by Farooq Ahmad Tantray, who filed a Transferred Application (T.A. No. 16/2026) against the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department

During the pendency of the matter, the applicants moved a Miscellaneous Application (M.A. No. 440/2026) before the Tribunal

The purpose of the M.A. was to seek the formal withdrawal of the main T.A. while reserving the right to file a fresh petition at a later stage

Whether the applicants should be permitted to withdraw the Transferred Application with liberty to file afresh if the cause of action survives

the inherent and procedural powers of the Tribunal to permit the withdrawal of a claim as per the Central Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1987

the underlying principles of Order XXIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which governs the withdrawal of suits and the granting of liberty to institute fresh proceedings on the same subject matter

The Tribunal considered the oral submissions made by the counsel for the applicants and the written averments detailed in the withdrawal application (M.A. No. 440/2026)

The court noted that the applicants explicitly requested liberty to file a fresh petition.

The court’s reasoning was based on the premise that a party may be allowed to withdraw their claim without a decision on the merits, provided that the court grants specific liberty to re-approach the forum if the underlying grievance remains unresolved

The court specifically held that the applicants are at liberty to file a fresh application in the event the cause of action survives

Accordingly, T.A. No. 16/2026 was dismissed as withdrawn, with no order as to costs