#unclean hands

Madras High Court holds that civil courts lack jurisdiction to entertain suits for injunction where statutory notices under Sections 6 and 7 of the Land Encroachment Act, 1905, are pending. Suppression of such notices by the plaintiff constitutes abuse of process, invoking the doctrine of unclean hands and barring civil court intervention.

The Bombay High Court held that a plaintiff who knowingly concealed the defendant’s death for 24 years and filed a false affidavit claiming ignorance cannot invoke Order XXII Rule 10A to revive a lapsed suit. This ruling reinforces that equitable relief is denied to parties who manipulate procedure with dishonesty, setting a strict precedent for litigants in property disputes involving succession.

The Supreme Court ruled that a plaintiff seeking specific performance must disclose all material agreements, including hidden loan arrangements, to satisfy the 'clean hands' doctrine. Failure to reveal a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) showing the transaction as a loan-security deal rather than a genuine sale agreement disentitles the plaintiff from equitable relief under contract law.