In Brief
A member of a cooperative housing society obtained allotment of a residential plot by filing a false affidavit concealing that his wife had previously been allotted a separate plot in the same development, in violation of the explicit policy that one family could not hold multiple plots. The allotment was later cancelled. The lower courts decreed the plaintiff's suit for declaration on the ground that the lease could not be cancelled without formal notice under the Transfer of Property Act. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that fraud in obtaining allotment vitiates it entirely. Since the plaintiff deliberately concealed material facts in false affidavits and violated express terms of allotment, he was disentitled from any equitable relief. The Court emphasized that one seeking judicial relief must come with clean hands and cannot benefit from their own fraud.
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