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 moreFollowing its 2016 judgment accepting the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee's recommendations for reforming BCCI's governance (term limits, "cooling-off" periods, one-state-one-vote, a Committee of Administrators or "CoA" to run BCCI in the interim), the Supreme Court had directed the CoA to prepare a draft constitution for BCCI incorporating these reforms. Numerous state cricket associations, BCCI office-bearers, Railways, Services and the Association of Indian Universities raised objections and suggestions to the draft constitution circulated by the CoA and the amicus curiae, on issues ranging from membership status to selector numbers to the length of the "cooling-off" period between terms.
The Court finalized BCCI's new constitution, ruling on each disputed issue: it restored full BCCI membership to Mumbai, Vidarbha, Baroda and Saurashtra (alongside Maharashtra and Gujarat) based on their historical contribution to cricket, extended full-membership-equivalent voting rights to Railways, Services and the Association of Indian Universities through elected former-player representatives, increased the number of national selectors from three (as recommended by Lodha) to five, and upheld a three-year "cooling-off" period after every two consecutive three-year terms (capping continuous tenure at six years) as a safeguard against concentration of power, while capping total tenure at nine years in the BCCI and nine years in a state body. It approved the disqualification criteria (age limit of 70, bar on government servants/ministers, bar on holding office in another sport, criminal charge-sheeting, etc.) and directed registration of the finalized constitution under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, with all state associations required to adopt matching constitutions within 30 days.
When a self-governing sports body persistently resists court-ordered institutional reform, the Supreme Court can go beyond merely approving a committee's recommendations and itself finalize the governing document's actual text, line by line, including concrete safeguards like mandatory "cooling-off" periods, making structural accountability reforms legally binding rather than aspirational.
