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 moreTwo American companies, e-Funds Corporation and e-Funds IT Solutions Group Inc., had an Indian subsidiary, e-Funds India, which performed back-office, call-centre and software-support work for them. The Indian tax department argued that this created a "Permanent Establishment" (PE) of the American companies in India, making a share of the US companies' global income taxable here, even though e-Funds India itself was separately taxed on arm's-length terms. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and the Delhi High Court had both ultimately ruled against the Revenue's PE claim, bringing the Revenue's appeal to the Supreme Court.
Applying the test from its own recent Formula One ruling, that a "fixed place" PE requires premises genuinely "at the disposal" of the foreign enterprise, with a real right to use and control them, the Court held that no fixed place PE existed in India: e-Fund India was an independent subsidiary carrying out its own services, not a place put at the disposal of its US parents. The Court also rejected the Revenue's service-PE and agency-PE arguments and found that the Revenue's reliance on a since-superseded settlement (Mutual Agreement Procedure) for an earlier assessment year could not bind later years. Since the arm's length principle had in any event been satisfied by e-Funds India's own taxed income, there was no scope to attribute further profits to any PE even if one existed. The Revenue's appeals were dismissed, and the correctness of the ITAT's "nil tax" calculation was left undisturbed since it didn't need deciding.
A foreign company does not automatically create a taxable presence in India merely because it has a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary that provides services to it: the subsidiary's premises must genuinely be at the disposal and control of the foreign parent, and if the subsidiary is already paying tax on an arm's-length basis for those services, no further tax can usually be attributed to the foreign parent in India.
