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 Bangalore Development Authority had acquired about 6 acres 3 guntas of land in Jedahalli Village, Bangalore under a 1976 notification and resolution. The landowners challenged the entire acquisition in a 1991 writ petition, which a Single Judge of the Karnataka High Court allowed in 2005. The Authority's intra-court appeal against that order was dismissed in 2007 by a Division Bench of the High Court, which the Authority then challenged before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court found that the Division Bench had disposed of the Authority's intra-court appeal in a cursory manner, without engaging with the specific factual and legal issues or the submissions the Authority had actually raised, addressing only one limited point. It held that once issues decided by a Single Judge are carried into an intra-court appeal and pressed by a party, the Division Bench is obliged to deal with all such issues and record findings on them. Because the Division Bench failed to do so, the Supreme Court set aside its order and allowed the Authority's appeal, but declined to examine the underlying merits of the land acquisition dispute itself, instead remanding the intra-court appeal to the Division Bench for a fresh decision on merits, uninfluenced by any of the Supreme Court's observations, preferably within six months.
An appellate court cannot dispose of an appeal by skating past the actual grounds and arguments raised before it: a party is entitled to have each issue it presses on appeal genuinely considered and ruled upon, not brushed aside in a one-paragraph order.
