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 moreNew Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) had allotted land to a group of licensees for loading and unloading goods, with licence fees to be revised every five years. A 2010 notification revised fees retrospectively from 2007, and licensees challenged this before the Karnataka High Court. While a Single Judge upheld the retrospective revision, the licensees' appeals against that ruling remained pending before the Division Bench without any stay. Separately, a writ petition by NMPT concerning consequential demand notices was taken up and decided by the High Court, which ruled against NMPT, even though the outcome depended on the still-pending intra-court appeals on the core retrospectivity question.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court erred procedurally by proceeding to decide NMPT's writ petition on the demand notices while the connected intra-court appeals on the fundamental question of retrospective fee revision were still pending and undecided. Since the licensees' resistance to the demand was based solely on the pending appeals (having already lost before the Single Judge), the High Court should have awaited the outcome of those appeals before ruling on the writ petition. The Court set aside the High Court's order and restored the writ petition to be reheard only after the intra-court appeals are finally decided, with recovery depending on that outcome.
Courts should not decide interconnected disputes piecemeal. Where the outcome of one proceeding depends on a legal question still pending in another connected appeal, the dependent proceeding should be held back until the foundational question is conclusively resolved, to avoid premature or inconsistent outcomes.
