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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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Legal Case Shots is a searchable database of Supreme Court of India judgments, each broken down into the case type, the court's key holding, and a practical lesson learnt, with the full judgment available as a PDF for citation or deeper reading.
The appellant company won a 2007 public auction for a commercial plot from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and paid the full consideration of over Rs. 164 crore, after which DDA executed and registered a Conveyance Deed in its favour. Unknown to the appellant, the original landowner had separately obtained a court declaration in 2015-16 that DDA's underlying land acquisition had lapsed for non-payment of compensation, a ruling the Supreme Court itself upheld in 2017, giving DDA six months to re-acquire the land or return possession: DDA did neither and did not inform the appellant until months after the deadline had passed. When trespassers forcibly took over the plot in 2016 and DDA failed to protect the appellant's possession or refund the money, the appellant sued for recovery of its payments and sought summary judgment, which the Delhi High Court's Single Judge refused, saying the question of possession needed a full trial.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court was wrong to treat DDA's "return possession first" defence as a genuine triable issue. Since the underlying land acquisition had already lapsed with finality (through the Supreme Court's own 2017 order, and later dismissal of DDA's review and curative petitions), the DDA had no continuing right or interest in the land, and title reverted to the original owner, leaving DDA with no legal basis to demand the appellant hand back possession before refunding. The Court found DDA's defence "fanciful," with no real prospect of success, satisfying the twin test for summary judgment under Order XIII-A CPC. Exercising its power under Article 142 to do complete justice, the Court set aside the 2008 Conveyance Deed and ordered mutual restitution, decreeing a refund of the Rs. 164.91 crore sale consideration with 7.5% interest (reduced from the 12% claimed) from the date of full payment until actual payment.
A buyer who pays in full and takes a validly registered conveyance is entitled to a refund with interest when the seller's own underlying title later collapses through no fault of the buyer: a defendant cannot manufacture a false triable issue to avoid summary judgment once the real legal question has already been conclusively decided in earlier litigation.
