Abuse of writ jurisdiction for repeated challenge to the same tribunal order led to withdrawal with exemplary costs.

Repeated invocation of writ jurisdiction to challenge the same tribunal order, after an earlier limited remand and without candid disclosure of prior proceedings, was treated as abuse of process. Applying the equitable nature of Article 226 relief and the requirement of clean hands, the Court refused to entertain the petitions on merits and permitted withdrawal only with exemplary costs.

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Issues: Whether the writ petitions, filed after an earlier round of litigation concerning the same order, disclosed abuse of process and warranted dismissal or permission to withdraw with costs.

Analysis: The petitions challenged the same tribunal order that had already been the subject of earlier writ proceedings. The Court found that the earlier order had only sent the parties back to the Tribunal for the limited purpose of seeking stay for the interregnum and did not reserve any liberty to institute fresh writ petitions under Article 226. It also noted the repeated invocation of the writ remedy on substantially the same grounds, the absence of the declaration required by the High Court Rules regarding prior proceedings, and the use of the process to re-agitate the same cause. Applying the principle that a writ remedy is equitable and must be pursued with clean hands, the Court treated the institution of the present petitions as improper relitigation.

Conclusion: The petitions were permitted to be withdrawn, but only with exemplary costs, as the Court declined to countenance the repeated challenge to the same subject matter.

Final Conclusion: The writ petitions did not survive as a fresh challenge to the same tribunal order and were finally disposed of by withdrawal with costs.

Ratio Decidendi: Repeated invocation of writ jurisdiction to challenge the same order, after an earlier limited remand and without candid disclosure of prior proceedings, amounts to abuse of process and justifies refusal to entertain the petitions on merits.

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