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 appellant's caste certificate (Hindu Pulaya, a Scheduled Caste) was cancelled by a Scrutiny Committee and upheld by the Kerala High Court on the ground that his family line had converted to Christianity generations earlier (his great-grandfather's son became Christian), even though the appellant himself had reconverted to Hinduism and been accepted into the Hindu Pulaya community, which issued him the caste certificate. A complaint alleging the certificate was obtained by misrepresentation triggered the Scrutiny Committee's cancellation, partly because the appellant had married a Christian woman and could not produce separate proof of being "accepted" by the community.
The Supreme Court held that once a recognised community itself formally accepts a reconverted person back into its fold and issues a caste certificate to that effect, that acceptance is determinative: it is the community's prerogative to decide who belongs to it, and the certificate issued in categorical terms by the community is strong evidence of acceptance. The Court found that the appellant's marriage to a Christian woman and his inability to produce separate corroborating proof of community acceptance could not be held against him once the community itself had accepted him, and held that a prior precedent relied on by the Scrytiny Committee's reasoning (S. Swvigaradoss) was decided per incuriam (in ignorance of binding Constitution Bench authority) on this point. The appeal was allowed, the High Court's judgment and the Scrutiny Committee's findings were set aside, and the appellant was ordered reinstated in service with seniority, caste status, and 75% back wages within eight weeks.
When a person who was born into a Scheduled Caste community, left it through family conversion, and later reconverts is formally accepted back by that same community (and issued a caste certificate to that effect), authorities cannot override that community acceptance based on incidental factors like an inter-faith marriage: the community's own acceptance is treated as the decisive fact in caste-certificate disputes.
