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 moreThe Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) redeveloped a plot in Kandivali, Mumbai, on which a lake known as Khajuria Lake had allegedly existed for around 100 years, into a landscaped recreational park with a musical fountain, completed and opened to the public in December 2011. A public-interest litigant challenged this in the Bombay High Court in 2012, and the High Court in 2018 ordered MCGM to demolish the park and restore the lake, relying on the "public trust doctrine" (that natural water bodies held in trust for the public cannot be permanently destroyed). MCGM appealed to the Supreme Court, which stayed the demolition order pending the appeal.
The Supreme Court accepted that the public trust doctrine is a well-established principle but held it cannot be applied rigidly without regard to real-world, present-day conditions. It found that the water body had already deteriorated into a dilapidated, garbage-strewn condition with no functioning catchment area well before redevelopment began, and that by the time of the appeal (2025) the park had existed and served the community for roughly fifteen years, with mature trees and public amenities that themselves now had ecological and social value. The Court also noted the petitioner's five-year delay in approaching the court after the park opened. Balancing these factors, including that demolishing the mature park would itself cause fresh environmental harm, and that recreating a pond without a natural water source was of doubtful sustainability. The Court set aside the High Court's demolition order. It instead directed MCGM to preserve the park permanently as a non-commercial public green space, constitute an expert committee to explore developing an alternative water body nearby, and undertake restoration of other deteriorated water bodies in its jurisdiction, with periodic compliance reporting to the High Court.
Environmental principles like the public trust doctrine are not absolute or one-size-fits-all. Courts will weigh the original condition of a natural resource, the ecological and social value of what has replaced it, the practical feasibility of restoration, and the delay in bringing the challenge, before ordering a decades-old, functioning public amenity to be torn down.
