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.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreThe petitioners challenged the reservation of a particular electoral division (Chande-Kasare Block, Kopergaon, Ahmednagar) for women of the "Other Backward Classes" category for the 2017 Zilla Parishad elections, arguing the rotation rules under the 1996 Rules had not been properly followed. The Bombay High Court summarily dismissed their writ petition because the election schedule had already been declared, and the Supreme Court had earlier granted an interim order suspending the election for just that one division pending notice, while the rest of the election process across the district proceeded and concluded with declared results.
The Supreme Court held that even if the petitioners' legal arguments on the complex rotation scheme had merit, granting relief at that stage would upset the balance of reserved seats across the other electoral divisions, since the election process for the rest of the Zilla Parishad/Panchayat Samitis had already concluded and was not under challenge. The Court expressly declined to pronounce on the correctness of either side's legal arguments about the rotation scheme, leaving all such questions open for the petitioners to pursue through any other lawful remedy. On that basis, it declined to interfere, dismissed the Special Leave Petition with no order as to costs, and vacated the earlier interim order that had suspended the election for that one division.
Courts are reluctant to grant relief that would unsettle an election process once it has substantially concluded elsewhere, even where the underlying legal question raised may have genuine merit, timing matters as much as the substance of a claim, especially in election-related litigation.
