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 moreIn September 2007, Vijay was fatally struck by a stray bull while walking on a road in Sangrur, Punjab. His widow, Nisha, filed a writ petition in 2010 seeking compensation; the High Court's Single Judge awarded Rs. 29,32,000 with 6% interest in 2019 by applying Motor Vehicles Act compensation principles. In 2025, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court set this aside, holding the writ petition involved "disputed questions of fact" and should have gone to a civil court instead, leaving Nisha to start over after 18 years.
The Supreme Court restored relief to the appellant, holding that sending the claimant to a civil court after such a long delay (18 years) would leave her effectively remediless, especially since the underlying facts (the incident, the injury, the death) were never actually disputed. Beyond deciding this individual case, the Court undertook an extensive review of India's fragmented state-by-state legal framework for stray cattle (goshala laws, cattle-trespass laws, municipal bye-laws) and noted that only a few states (like Punjab, from 2020 onward) have formal, quantified compensation schemes for stray-animal accidents; for the pre-2020 period there is no clear standard. Since neither the standard Motor Vehicles Act formula nor Punjab's later compensation rules technically applied to this 2007 incident, the Court awarded a lump-sum, non-precedential amount of Rs. 15 lakh, to be paid within four weeks.
India currently has no uniform, nationwide compensation mechanism for injuries or deaths caused by stray cattle/animals: coverage depends heavily on which state you're in and when the incident occurred. The Court has directed the Centre and States to consider mandatory tagging of stray animals, clearer compensation rules for both pedestrian and vehicular bovine accidents, and accountability for owners who abandon animals once they're no longer economically useful.
