Withdrawal of the challenged transfer rendered the original application infructuous.

The applicant, S. Ashok Rani, challenged Office Order No. 27/2026 dated 22 July 2026, by which she was transferred from the Customs Preventive Commissionerate, Kochi, to the Customs Preventive Commissionerate, Thiruvananthapuram.

When the Original Application came up for admission on 28 July 2026, the Tribunal directed that the transfer order remain in abeyance until the next date of posting.

During the proceedings, the respondents produced Office Order No. 32/2026 dated 27 August 2026, withdrawing the applicant’s transfer order.

Whether the Original Application challenging the applicant’s transfer order remained maintainable after the impugned transfer order was withdrawn.

Whether the interim order keeping the transfer order in abeyance should continue after withdrawal of the transfer order.

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that proceedings challenging an administrative order become infructuous when the impugned order is subsequently withdrawn or cancelled, leaving no surviving relief for adjudication.

It further applied the principle that an interim order must ordinarily cease when the substantive order to which it relates no longer exists.

The applicant’s challenge was directed solely against the transfer order dated 22 July 2026.

Since the competent authority subsequently withdrew that transfer order by Office Order dated 27 August 2026, the subject matter of the Original Application ceased to exist.

Consequently, there was no surviving dispute requiring adjudication, and the interim direction keeping the transfer order in abeyance had also become unnecessary.

The interim order was vacated, and no order as to costs was made.