Withdrawal of challenged provisional seniority lists renders the original application infructuous.

The applicants, employees of the Commercial Branch of Palghat Division, Southern Railway, challenged the validity of the provisional seniority lists for Chief Office Superintendents (Ministerial), Level-7 of the VII CPC Pay Matrix, dated 5 July 2025 and 2 January 2026, marked as Annexures A-10 and A-11.

The seniority dispute followed earlier seniority lists, representations, objections, departmental communications, and an interim order in another Original Application.

During the hearing, the respondents produced a memorandum dated 7 August 2026 issued by the Senior Divisional Personnel Officer, together with a note recording the withdrawal of Annexures A-10 and A-11.

Whether the challenge to the provisional seniority lists in Annexures A-10 and A-11 could survive after those lists had been withdrawn by the competent railway authority.

Whether the Original Application had become infructuous as a result of the withdrawal of the impugned seniority lists.

The Tribunal applied the procedural principle that proceedings challenging an administrative order become infructuous when the impugned order is withdrawn or ceases to operate, leaving no surviving relief for adjudication.

No specific statutory provision or judicial precedent was cited or relied upon in the order.

The applicants’ challenge was directed against Annexures A-10 and A-11. Since the Senior Divisional Personnel Officer had withdrawn both provisional seniority lists before the matter was decided, the impugned administrative action no longer remained operative.

Consequently, there was no subsisting order whose validity could be examined and no effective relief that could be granted in the Original Application.

It accordingly dismissed the Original Application as infructuous, with no order as to costs.