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 moreA housing society (formed by purchasers of flats in an unauthorised building constructed on leased land in Mumbai) first applied to the Competent Authority for a "deemed conveyance" of the land in its favour under the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act, 1963. That first application was dismissed in 2021, with the Authority directing the Society to first get various ownership complications resolved by a civil court before reapplying. Instead of going to a civil court, the Society filed a second, differently-worded application just a month later, which the Competent Authority allowed, granting it leasehold rights over the land. The landowner, Faime Makers, challenged this before the Bombay High Court, which upheld the grant, reading the first order as having given the Society "unconditional liberty" to reapply, leading to this appeal.
The Supreme Court held that the first order was not an unconditional liberty to reapply. It clearly and specifically required the Society to first resolve legal complications through a competent civil court before any fresh application could succeed. Since the Society never challenged that first order and never went to a civil court, that finding attained finality. Applying the established principle that res judicata binds quasi-judicial authorities too (citing Ujjam Bai v. State of U.P. and Abdul Kuddus v. Union of India), the Court held the Competent Authority had no jurisdiction to entertain the second application and effectively reverse its own earlier, final decision. The High Court's contrary reading of the first order was held to be a manifest error. The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's judgment and quashed the Competent Authority's second order, while leaving the Society free to reapply once it actually resolves the underlying complications through the appropriate court.
A decision by a government authority acting in a judicial capacity, like an order rejecting an application with specific conditions attached, becomes final and binding if not appealed, and the same authority cannot later grant a differently-framed request that effectively reverses that earlier finding without those conditions first being met.
