Real judgements, distilled
Court judgements broken down into the case type, how the decision played out, and the lesson worth remembering, with the full judgement available as a PDF.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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Legal Case Shots is a searchable database of Supreme Court of India judgments, each broken down into the case type, the court's key holding, and a practical lesson learnt, with the full judgment available as a PDF for citation or deeper reading.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) floated tenders for ground handling services at various categories of airports, including a fresh RFP for Group 'D1' airports in 2020 with eligibility conditions on regional clustering, past experience with scheduled flights, and a minimum annual turnover. Centre for Aviation Policy, Safety & Research (CAPSR), an NGO representing existing ground handling agencies, challenged these conditions before the Delhi High Court as arbitrary and discriminatory. The High Court struck down the region-wise clustering, the scheduled-flight experience requirement, and the turnover criterion, prompting AAI to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that CAPSR, being a non-profit NGO not itself a participant or aggrieved bidder, and the writ petition not being in the nature of Public Interest Litigation, had no locus standi to challenge the tender conditions. On merits too, the Court found the tender conditions were not arbitrary, discriminatory or mala fide, reiterating settled law that the terms of an invitation to tender fall within the commercial domain of the tendering authority and are not open to judicial review absent proof of arbitrariness, malice or bias. The Court also rejected the argument based on MSME procurement orders, holding that provision of ground handling services (akin to a license) is different from procurement of goods and services. The High Court's judgment was set aside and the writ petition dismissed; the appeals were allowed with no order as to costs.
Courts exercise very limited judicial review over the terms and conditions of government tenders: interference is warranted only where conditions are shown to be arbitrary, discriminatory or mala fide, not merely because a different formulation might have been fairer; and a non-aggrieved NGO cannot ordinarily maintain a writ petition challenging tender terms unless it is a genuine public interest litigation.
