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 moreA stockbroker/Trading Member, Anugrah Stock & Broking Private Limited, ran a fraudulent scheme in which it wore three roles at once (trading member, depository participant, and an unauthorised "discretionary advisory service") inducing its individual clients to hand over securities on the promise of assured, fixed returns (up to 12% per annum through "Gold" and "Platinum" schemes) that are inherently impossible to guarantee in the volatile derivatives (F&O) market. Anugrah misappropriated and misused these client securities, misstated its books, and eventually defaulted on its obligations to Edelweiss Custodial Services and other Professional Clearing Members (PCMs): entities that sit above Trading Members in the settlement hierarchy but have no direct contractual relationship with the Trading Member's individual clients. When Anugrah's collapse caused these clients' securities to be liquidated to cover its dues, a Committee constituted by NSE Clearing Ltd. (NCL) ordered the PCMs to reimburse and restore securities to the affected clients, a decision upheld by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), prompting the PCMs' appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court answered all three key legal questions against the regulators/investors and in favour of the PCMs. First, it held there was no statutory obligation on a PCM to verify the debit/credit positions of a Trading Member's individual clients before liquidating collateral, and the regulatory framework at the relevant time did not even give PCMs visibility into those positions. Second, it held that neither the NCL nor its Committee had the legal power to order "restitution" of securities (worth several hundred crores) against the PCMs: such disgorgement-style relief is available only under specific SEBI Act provisions, not through a stock exchange's byelaw-making power, which is limited to prescribed penalties and excludes orders for payment of money. Third, it held that investors who participated in Anugrah's scheme, chasing guaranteed high returns in an inherently speculative and volatile market, could not shift the loss onto the PCMs for the Trading Member's default. The Court set aside the NCL Committee's and SAT's orders and allowed the PCMs' appeals, while leaving investors free to pursue their own remedies against Anugrah directly.
In the multi-layered stock market settlement chain, an intermediary (like a Professional Clearing Member) cannot be made liable for a defaulting broker's misconduct toward that broker's own clients unless a specific law creates that obligation, and no regulator or exchange body can invent a money-recovery power for itself that the governing statute does not actually give it. Investors chasing "assured returns" in speculative markets bear that risk themselves.
