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.
This batch of 98 connected appeals involved landowners whose land near Mohali was acquired under Section 4 notifications (mostly dated 12.11.1992, one set dated 14.06.1993, and one dated 21.02.2000). The Punjab & Haryana High Court had fixed compensation at Rs. 7,80,000 per acre (following its own earlier ruling in Kapoor Singh v. State of Punjab) for most appeals, and at Rs. 19,85,700 per acre (following Surjit Singh v. State of Punjab) for one batch (RFA No. 4975/2010). The landowners appealed to the Supreme Court seeking further enhancement, noting that the Kapoor Singh and Surjit Singh judgments themselves had already been enhanced by the Supreme Court in separate proceedings.
The Supreme Court noted it was undisputed that the present landowners were similarly situated to those in the Kapoor Singh and Surjit Singh cases, where the Supreme Court had earlier enhanced compensation by Rs. 1,00,000 per acre and Rs. 2,00,000 per acre respectively (with interest and solatium), payable by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority. The Court applied the same enhancement here: Rs. 1,00,000 per acre extra for cases following Kapoor Singh, and Rs. 2,00,000 per acre extra for the case following Surjit Singh, along with statutory solatium from the date of the High Court's orders. However, because of substantial delay in filing the appeals, the Court denied interest on the enhanced amount for the period between the High Court's orders and the filing of the appeals in the Supreme Court. The enhanced amounts were directed to be deposited by the Development Authority within three months before the Reference Court.
Where the Supreme Court has already enhanced compensation for landowners in a "pilot" or precedent judgment relied upon by the High Court, similarly situated landowners in connected appeals are entitled to the same enhancement, but unreasonable delay in approaching the Court can cost a claimant the interest that would otherwise have accrued.
