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 moreHarpal Singh's father, a peon in the Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti, Alampur (Madhya Pradesh), died in harness in February 2019. Following the state's compassionate appointment policy, Harpal Singh was appointed to a Class-III post (Assistant Grade-III) in September 2020, conditional on clearing a Computer Proficiency Certification Test (CPCT) within three years. He was unable to clear the test, and the authorities sought to deny him any appointment on that ground. The Madhya Pradesh High Court's Single Bench (later upheld by a Division Bench) had directed the authorities to sympathetically consider appointing him to a lower Class-IV post instead, and the Marketing Board appealed against this to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court dismissed the Board's appeal and upheld the High Court's direction. It held that compassionate appointment schemes exist to address the exceptional hardship caused by an employee's death in service, and that procedural conditions like the CPCT requirement should not be applied so rigidly as to deny all relief to a dependent who could not meet a Class-III qualification, when a Class-IV post remained available. The Court emphasised that justice should not be sacrificed to technicality, and that since compassionate appointments are made against posts specifically earmarked for that purpose (not against general recruitment vacancies), granting relief here does not violate the equality guarantees under Articles 14 and 16. It directed the authorities to consider Harpal Singh's case for compassionate appointment to a Class-IV post within six weeks.
Compassionate appointment schemes must be interpreted humanely and purposively: a dependent's failure to meet a qualifying condition for a higher post should not automatically shut the door on being considered for a lower, still-available post, since the scheme's purpose is to provide timely relief to families left without support.
