Res judicata in the same proceeding bars reopening final factual findings in writ jurisdiction.

An earlier High Court order directing the Tribunal not to reopen questions of fact in revision had attained finality because no appeal was filed, and that finality bound the parties at later stages of the same proceeding. The principle of res judicata applied within the same proceeding as well as in separate subsequent proceedings, so the Tribunal could not re-examine a factual issue already concluded. On that basis, the High Court was justified in declining interference under Articles 226 and 227 with concurrent findings recorded by the revenue authorities and the Tribunal. The factual findings were therefore not open to challenge in writ proceedings, and the appeal failed.

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Issues: Whether the High Court could interfere in writ jurisdiction with concurrent findings of fact recorded by the revenue authorities and the Tribunal, and whether the earlier final judgment of the High Court barred reopening of those factual issues in the same proceedings.

Analysis: The earlier High Court judgment had directed the Tribunal not to reopen questions of fact in revision, and no appeal was filed against that judgment. Once that order attained finality, the parties were bound by it at the later stage of the same proceedings. The principle of res judicata applies not only to separate subsequent proceedings but also to later stages of the same proceeding. In these circumstances, the Tribunal could not re-examine the factual question already concluded, and the High Court was justified in declining interference under Articles 226 and 227 with the concurrent factual findings of the Assistant Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner, and the Tribunal.

Conclusion: The factual findings were not open to challenge in writ proceedings, and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A final order in an earlier stage of the same proceeding binds the parties at later stages, and concurrent findings of fact cannot ordinarily be reopened in writ jurisdiction when they rest on such finality.

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