Rajendra Kumar Shah vs State Of Rajasthan And Anr. on 15 May, 1985
19. A perusal of the decisions of the Supreme Court referred to above shows that principle of promissory estoppel is applicable against the Government in cases where an officer acting within the scope of his authority makes a representation and a person acting on that representation put himself in a disadvantageous position. The officer cannot act arbitrarily to the prejudice of the person who has acted upon such representation and has put himself in a disadvantageous position and in such a case the Court is entitled to require the officer to act according to the representation. This principle of promissory estoppel is, however, an equitable principle and it must yield when the equity so requires.