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 moreA Bihar steel-manufacturing unit had a sanctioned electricity connection of 500 KVA and, under a state industrial incentive policy, was entitled to exemption from minimum guarantee charges as long as its connected load stayed within that limit. The Electricity Board's maximum-demand-indicator (MDI/Trivector) meter recorded the unit's actual demand exceeding 500 KVA, crossing it in six months of the 1999-2000 financial year, with the meter readings pushing the contract demand up under a tariff clause that treats such excess as the new contract demand. The industry disputed the resulting bill, arguing the meter was faulty and had been replaced twice, and both the Patna High Court's Single Bench and Division Bench had quashed the Board's demand, partly on the reasoning that higher power consumption benefited the state's economic development.
The Supreme Court held that MDI meter readings are a well-recognised and reliable method for determining whether a consumer has drawn electricity beyond its contracted load, relying on its own earlier precedents on how such meters function. It found that the meter had recorded excess demand consistently across multiple months (not just a one-off anomaly), undermining the industry's claim that the readings were simply due to a faulty meter. The Court held the High Court had erred by focusing on irrelevant policy considerations (that higher consumption helps the state's economy) rather than on the technical reliability of the meter readings and the clear contractual/tariff violation. It set aside both High Court orders, upheld the Electricity Board's demand as legal and valid, and directed payment of the outstanding amount within six weeks, with each party bearing its own costs.
In regulated-utility billing disputes, courts will generally treat a recognised technical measuring device's consistent readings as reliable evidence of actual consumption/usage, and will not override that evidence based on broader policy sympathies (like promoting industrial growth) that are not relevant to the specific contractual or regulatory violation at issue.
