42. It is a notable principle in legal jurisprudence that a fact
concealed by a petitioner can only have the effect of persuading
the court that the petitioner has approached the court with
unclean hands when such concealment is not merely an
inadvertent ‘omission’ but is instead a ‘material’ concealment
within the contextual framework of the litigation. For a fact to be
deemed ‘material’, it must possess such a degree of relevancy to
the issue at hand that, had the court been apprised of this fact, a
majority of the contentions raised by the parties to the dispute
could have been expeditiously resolved at once or significantly
impacted thereby. In other words, the materiality of the concealed
fact is to be gauged by its potential to substantially influence the
[2025:RJ-JP:33343] (61 of 202) [CW-13806/2024]
court’s consideration of the matter, such that knowledge of the
fact would lead to a swift or conclusive determination of a
significant portion of the issue in dispute/contention.