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.
14543 more judgements for members
You're seeing the newest cases. Log in — it's free — to keep scrolling, search by name or judge, and filter by court or legal area.
Log in to see moreSmt. Paras Sharma died in a 2008 road accident in Rajasthan when a bus took a sudden turn and ran over her while she was riding her two-wheeler. Her married daughter and elderly mother filed a claim for compensation of over Rs. 54 lakh. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded about Rs. 16 lakh, but the Rajasthan High Court, relying on an earlier Supreme Court ruling (Manjuri Bera), reduced the married daughter's award to a token Rs. 50,000 and denied the mother's claim entirely, holding that neither was a proven "dependent" of the deceased.
The Supreme Court agreed that the married daughter, having no proof she was financially dependent on her mother after marriage, was correctly limited to the small statutory no-fault-liability amount under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act. However, it held the High Court was wrong to deny the mother any compensation: at 70 years old, living with her deceased daughter, with no independent income, she was in fact solely dependent on her and legally entitled to be maintained by her child. The Court then recalculated compensation for the mother from scratch using the settled Sarla Verma/Pranay Sethi factors (future income prospects, funeral expenses, loss of estate, and loss of filial consortium) arriving at an enhanced award of Rs. 19,22,356.
Being a legal heir is not, by itself, enough to claim dependency compensation after a motor accident death, actual financial dependence must be shown, but an elderly parent who lived with and relied entirely on the deceased for support will be recognised as a genuine dependent, distinct from a married child who has moved into her own household.
