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 1066
Courts will not infer a concluded oral contract for the sale of immovable property just because the other side's witnesses seemed evasive: the party seeking specific performance must independently and affirmatively prove every essential term was genuinely agreed.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1065
Even in serious, high-value corruption cases, prolonged pre-trial detention cannot be used as a substitute for punishment when the trial is unlikely to conclude soon and the evidence is already secured: bail remains the touchstone principle under Article 21's personal liberty protection.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1067
Preventive detention cannot be used as a backdoor way to keep someone in custody once the ordinary criminal process, including bail, has already run its course on the same facts; the detaining authority must show a genuine, independent risk of future harm, not just recycle the criminal case file.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1068
In land acquisition disputes, courts will readily restore a uniform, fair market rate across similarly-situated parcels, but ancillary compensation heads (like moveable equipment such as tubewells) still require the claimant to prove their case with admissible evidence, not private reports whose authors were never examined in court.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8447
If you are injured while genuinely trying to board or exit a train, you are very likely covered under railway "untoward incident" compensation law, even if you technically hadn't fully boarded yet: courts read this protection broadly in favour of passengers, and contemporaneous official records (station logs, police diary entries) carry more weight than a statement taken from you much later.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8404
Courts will not entertain vague, unsubstantiated allegations of judicial bias, and a request to combine cases becomes moot once the other related proceedings have already concluded: genuine grievances about trial delay or procedure must be backed by specific, demonstrable facts, not just repeated litigation.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8403
Anticipatory bail can be granted even in matrimonial cases involving serious sexual-offence allegations where there is unexplained delay in reporting, no evidence substantiating the need for custodial interrogation, and the investigating agency's own conduct (e.g., undocumented "verbal" notices) fails to justify arrest, though this is assessed only for bail purposes, not as a finding on guilt.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8407
In family property disputes, signing a Relinquishment Deed acknowledging receipt of consideration, and then waiting years without challenging it or pursuing your claimed share, will make it very difficult to later prove you were never actually paid; courts expect contemporaneous action (a legal notice, a suit) and corroborating evidence, not delayed assertions alone.
Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8401
A tenant who claims to have paid a large sum toward an informal "mortgage" or side arrangement must be able to prove it with solid evidence (receipts, corroborating witnesses): bare assertions, especially when contradicted by one's own family members under cross-examination, will not defeat a landlord's claim for rent and possession.
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Baljit Singh's father, a Bank of Baroda employee, died in service in 1999. His mother applied for his compassionate appointment as a Peon under the Bank's 1998 Scheme, but before the application was decided, Baljit completed his matriculation in 2004 and the Bank rejected the application in June 2004. Baljit sued for a declaration and mandatory injunction directing his appointment; the Trial Court ruled in his favour, the First Appellate Court reversed that, and the High Court in second appeal restored the Trial Court's decree in his favour, prompting the Bank's appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court reiterated that compassionate appointment is not a vested right but a narrow exception to open recruitment, meant only to give immediate relief to a family left in genuine financial distress ("penury") by a breadwinner's death. Courts cannot direct such appointments outside the terms of the applicable scheme. Applying the Bank's own income-calculation formula in the 1998 Scheme to the actual figures (the family's net monthly income of Rs. 7,618, against the deceased's last-drawn emoluments of Rs. 3,210), the Court found the family's income exceeded the 60% threshold that would have made Baljit eligible, meaning he did not qualify under the Scheme's own financial-distress criterion regardless of his educational qualifications. The High Court had erred by resolving the legal questions based on precedent alone without applying this financial formula to the actual facts. The appeal was allowed, the High Court's judgment was set aside, and Baljit's suit was dismissed, with each side bearing its own costs.
Compassionate appointment is a concession granted strictly per the terms of the employer's scheme to relieve genuine financial distress, not an entitlement flowing automatically from a parent's death in service. Courts will enforce the scheme's own eligibility formula (including income limits) rather than direct appointment merely because a dependent later becomes educationally qualified.
