Review applications dismissed as original order upheld by High Court.

The original applications (OAs) were decided via a common order/judgment dated July 28, 2025

Aggrieved by this, the respondents in the OAs approached the Hon'ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh by filing different Writ Petitions.

These petitions were dismissed, but liberty was granted to the petitioners to approach the Tribunal via Review Applications.

Subsequently, the Review Applicants also approached the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi with different Writ Petitions to challenge the same common order/judgment dated July 28, 2025, including WP(C) No. 237/2026 titled Union of India & Ors. V/s Avinash Kumar & Anr.

The Hon'ble High Court of Delhi dismissed these Writ Petitions via an order/judgment dated January 8, 2026, upholding the Tribunal's original order.

Despite the delay in filing the Review Applications, the miscellaneous applications (MAs) for condonation of delay were allowed.

Whether the Review Applications, filed following liberty granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, should be dismissed given that the Delhi High Court has subsequently upheld the original order/judgment of the Tribunal?

The Tribunal applied the principle of judicial finality and the binding nature of higher court judgments.

Specifically, it considered that once an order of the Tribunal has been upheld by a High Court, any further review of that order by the Tribunal would be a misuse of the process of law.

The Tribunal referenced the Delhi High Court's judgment dated January 8, 2026, in Union of India & Ors. V/s Avinash Kumar & Anr., which relied on the judgment dated July 18, 2024, in Union of India v. Sanjeev Kumar & Anr., a case where the Special Leave Petition was dismissed by the Hon'ble Apex Court on December 16, 2024.

The Tribunal noted that the very common order/judgment dated July 28, 2025, from which these Review Applications arose, had been upheld by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi on January 8, 2026, in Avinash Kumar (Supra).

The Delhi High Court's decision was based on and explicitly referenced a previous Division Bench judgment in Union of India & Ors. v. Sanjeev Kumar & Anr., which had also been affirmed by the Supreme Court.

The Tribunal reasoned that while the Review Applicants initially had the liberty from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to file these RAs, the subsequent upholding of the original order by the Delhi High Court rendered the present Review Applications moot.

To entertain the RAs after the Delhi High Court had confirmed the Tribunal's decision would constitute a misuse of the legal process.

The Tribunal held that since the common order/judgment dated July 28, 2025, had been upheld by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi, the Review Applications were a misuse of the process of law.