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 woman had, by a registered gift deed in 1981, donated land to a public school for educating local children. Years later, the school's Principal and the Society's President purportedly "exchanged" this valuable school land for inferior, unirrigated land elsewhere, without any resolution authorising them to do so, and the Principal then got the school land mutated into his own name. After the donor's death, her legal heirs sued, and the courts below disagreed on whether the exchange was valid.
The Supreme Court found that the First Appellate Court and the High Court had wrongly focused only on whether the donor's heirs could seek possession (which they could not, since the gift was absolute), while overlooking the alternative relief the Trial Court had correctly granted: a declaration that the exchange was illegal and the mutation should be set aside. The Court held the 1988 "exchange" was a wholly collusive and unauthorised transaction by the Principal and Society President, done without the required Society resolution, as confirmed by the fact that the school never actually shifted to the supposedly exchanged land even 31 years later. It therefore quashed the exchange and the resulting revenue entries, restored the land to the school's name, allowed the appeal, and directed the respondents to pay Rs. 1 lakh in costs.
Land or property held in trust for an institution (like a school) cannot be given away or "exchanged" by its managers without proper authorisation, and courts will look past the label given to a transaction to its real substance, especially when the stated purpose of a transfer was never actually carried out.
