JUDGMENT :

PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J.

1. The saying ‘Promises are meant to be broken’ is well known in the social context. However, law has evolved the doctrines of legitimate expectation and promissory estoppel to ensure that promises made by the Government, its officials and other authorities are not broken and are, in fact, judicially enforceable, subject to certain conditions.

2. The present petition has been filed by the Petitioners to seek enforcement of the promise made by the Chief Minister of Delhi (hereinafter “CM”) on 29th March, 2020. Petitioner Nos. 1 to 3, 5 and 6 are daily wage labourers/workers, who claim to be tenants who are unable to pay their monthly rent, and Petitioner No. 4 is stated to be a landlord who hasn’t been able to receive the monthly rent from his tenant. Both sets of Petitioners seek recovery/payment/refund of the monthly rental amount, as per the promise made by the CM.

3. The case of the Petitioners is that the CM gave a press conference on 29th March 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which he requested all landlords to postpone the deman