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Sukhbir Singh Randhawa vs. National Highway Authority of India & Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026:DHC:8180Decided 21 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 7052/2026CNR: DLHC010230342026
Justice Amit Mahajan

Background

The petitioner claimed he was in settled possession of a plot in Village Malikpur Kohi (Rangpuri), New Delhi, and challenged an NHAI notice alleging his occupation was unauthorized, complaining that he had never been shown the acquisition notification, award or demarcation report for the land. NHAI responded that the land had already been acquired under the National Highways Act in 2018, with possession taken in 2020.

Decision Breakdown

NHAI produced an earlier writ petition (W.P.(C) 7003/2026) that the same petitioner had filed shortly before this one, concerning adjoining plots acquired under the very same 2018 notification: a notification whose schedule also covered the plot at issue here, and which the petitioner himself had placed on record in that earlier case. This showed he was fully aware of the acquisition all along, contrary to his claim of ignorance in the present petition. The Court held this non-disclosure of a closely related, self-filed earlier case amounted to suppression of material facts and approaching the Court without clean hands, and dismissed the petition on that ground alone.

Lesson Learnt

Courts exercising writ (Article 226) jurisdiction expect full and honest disclosure of all relevant facts; concealing a related case you yourself filed, especially one that undercuts your current story, can defeat a petition regardless of its underlying merits.

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