GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI vs NAJMA AND ORS.

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 19 March 2026 Pronounced on: 6 April 2026 LPA 349/2021, CM APPL. 33731/2021 GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI .....Appellant Through: Mr. Sameer Vashisht, SC CIVIL, GNCTD, Ms. Harshita Nathrani, Mr. Aryaman Vachher, Advocates versus NAJMA AND ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Gaurav Jain, Adv. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE OM PRAKASH SHUKLA % JUDGMENT 06.04.2026 C. HARI SHANKAR, J. A. The lis 1. This case requires us to revisit, painfully, a dark period in our history – the COVID-19 pandemic. It throws up, for consideration, the issue of whether an assurance extended by the Chief Minister of Delhi, in a press conference, as a step towards enforcement of the restrictions on public movement of persons put in place in the wake of COVID, is unenforceable in law, absent a formal written policy decision to that effect. LPA 349/2021 2. A learned Single Judge of this Court has answered the issue in the negative, invoking the principles of promissory estoppel and legitimate expectation. The Delhi Government1 is in appeal. B. Facts 3. COVID struck India in March 2020. In the wake of the calamity, the likes o