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 moreThe Slum Rehabilitation Authority declared about 5,168 sq. metres of land in Pune as a slum rehabilitation area and later issued a slum clearance order for the same land. The appellants, occupants of part of this land, challenged these orders, arguing that an additional 1,045 sq. metres included in the scheme had never formally been notified as a "slum area" under a separate provision of the Act, and that they were not given a hearing before the declaration. A special Tribunal partly ruled in their favour, but the Bombay High Court reversed the Tribunal and upheld the full declaration.
The Supreme Court held that the slum rehabilitation scheme under "Chapter I-A" of the Act is a self-contained framework, separate from the general slum-declaration provisions in Chapter II, and does not require a separate notification under Section 4 before an area can be declared a "Slum Rehabilitation Area" under Section 3C. It also held that applicable special rules expressly allowed even "encumbered" (non-slum) adjoining land to be included in a rehabilitation scheme where necessary for the project, and that there was no statutory requirement of a pre-decisional hearing before such a declaration, especially since the appellants had, in fact, already availed of their appeal remedy under the Act. Finding no error in the High Court's interpretation, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.
When a law creates a special self-contained scheme for a particular purpose (here, slum rehabilitation), courts will generally interpret its specific provisions on their own terms rather than importing requirements from a different, more general part of the same statute.
