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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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Legal Case Shots is a searchable database of Supreme Court of India judgments, each broken down into the case type, the court's key holding, and a practical lesson learnt, with the full judgment available as a PDF for citation or deeper reading.
In 1947, British Motor Car Company let out premises in Connaught Circus, New Delhi to Hindustan Commercial Bank (HCB) for non-residential use. In 1986, HCB was amalgamated into Punjab National Bank (PNB) under a government-sanctioned scheme, and PNB took over possession of the premises. The landlord sought eviction of PNB under Section 14(1)(b) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, arguing that HCB had effectively sublet/parted with possession to PNB without the landlord's written consent. The Rent Controller dismissed the eviction plea, the Rent Control Tribunal reversed and ordered eviction, and the Delhi High Court then set aside the eviction decree, holding the transfer was an involuntary statutory amalgamation and not "subletting."
The Supreme Court held that Section 14(1)(b) of the Delhi Rent Control Act is worded broadly enough to cover any transfer of possession, including one occurring involuntarily through a statutory amalgamation, so long as it happens without the landlord's written consent. Relying on its earlier rulings in Parasram Harnand Rao and Singer India Ltd., the Court held that whether a transfer was voluntary or involuntary is legally irrelevant; what matters is only whether possession passed to another entity without consent. It also held that a scheme framed under Section 45 of the Banking Regulation Act is administrative, not legislative, in character, so it cannot override the protective mandate of the Rent Control Act. The Court restored the Rent Control Tribunal's original eviction decree against PNB, while granting the bank time until 31 January 2027 to hand over vacant possession.
A tenant cannot avoid the consequences of "parting with possession" under rent control law merely because the transfer happened through a legally mandated process (like a bank merger) rather than a deliberate choice. The law looks at the fact of the transfer, not the tenant's intent or control over it.
