Doctrine of merger bars Tribunal rectification once the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal against the final order.

A Tribunal cannot entertain a rectification application against its own final order once that order has been carried in appeal and the appeal has been dismissed by the Supreme Court. The lower forum's order merges in the superior court's order, and no inferior forum can take a view contrary to the final order of the higher court. On that principle, the rectification request failed at the threshold on maintainability and was not maintainable before the Tribunal.

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Issues: Whether an application for rectification of mistake before the Tribunal was maintainable after the assessee's appeal against the Tribunal's final order had been dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Analysis: On dismissal of the appeal by the Supreme Court, the Tribunal's order merged in the order of the Supreme Court. In such a situation, the Tribunal could not entertain a rectification application against its own order, as no inferior forum can take a view contrary to the final order of the superior court. The application was therefore liable to fail at the threshold on maintainability.

Conclusion: The rectification application was not maintainable before the Tribunal after dismissal of the appeal by the Supreme Court.

Ratio Decidendi: Once a superior court disposes of an appeal, the lower court's order merges in the superior court's order, and no rectification or review lies before the lower forum against the merged order.

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