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 moreAn elderly landlord sued to evict an elderly tenant who had occupied two shop rooms since 1974, after the tenant stopped paying rent from 2001 onward. The tenant claimed he had instead acquired the shops through adverse possession, based on an alleged oral gift from the original owner (the landlord's adoptive mother). The trial court and the first appellate court both ruled for the landlord, finding the tenancy proved and the adverse-possession claim unsupported. The Orissa High Court, however, reversed this in a second appeal, holding that no landlord-tenant relationship had actually been proved.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court had overstepped the narrow scope allowed for a second appeal under Section 100 of the Civil Procedure Code, which permits interference only on genuine "substantial questions of law", not a fresh re-examination of settled facts. It found the two questions the High Court had framed were really factual disputes, not legal ones, and that the concurrent factual findings of the two lower courts (that a tenancy existed, and that the tenant's possession was merely permissive rather than adverse) were not shown to be perverse. The Court reiterated that an oral gift cannot legally transfer title to immovable property, and that permissive possession, however long it continues, does not become "adverse possession" without clear proof that the possessor openly asserted hostile ownership to the true owner's knowledge. The High Court's judgment was set aside, and the tenant was directed to hand over vacant possession and clear all dues within three months.
A High Court hearing a second appeal cannot re-open questions of fact already settled by two lower courts unless those findings are shown to be perverse; and simply staying in a property for a long time under the owner's permission, without ever openly asserting your own ownership against the owner, will not ripen into legal ownership through adverse possession.
