Hon’ble Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, C.J.—

The Reference

A final order of the Armed Forces Tribunal at its Lucknow Bench has been challenged in this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. A preliminary objection was raised before the Division Bench to the maintainability of the petition founded on a judgment of a Division Bench of this Court in Surendra Bahadur Singh v. Armed Forces Tribunal, Regional Bench, Lucknow and others, 2012(3) ADJ 655, that (i) no writ would lie before the High Court against a final order of the Armed Forces Tribunal, since an appeal lies to the Supreme Court under Section 31 (1) of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007; and (ii) since a statutory remedy of an appeal under Sections 30 and 31 is available against a final order of the Tribunal made in exercise of powers under Section 14, this Court ought not to entertain the petition. The Division Bench found itself unable to agree with the earlier decision in Surendra Bahadur Singh (supra).

2. The following questions have been referred for consideration of a larger Bench, Order dated 28 March 2014 in this petition :

“(a) Whether the jurisdiction of the High Court to entertain a writ petition under Ar