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 moreThe respondent's husband took a life insurance policy from Max New York Life Insurance for Rs 11 lakh in July 2009, and barely two months later, in September 2009, applied for a separate term life policy from Reliance Life Insurance for Rs 10 lakh, but in the proposal form for the second policy, he answered "no" when asked if he was already insured or had applied for other insurance, and left the disclosure fields blank. After his death, Reliance Life Insurance repudiated the claim on his second policy, citing this non-disclosure as a breach of the policy's basis-of-contract clause. The State and National consumer disputes redressal commissions ruled in the widow's favour, holding the non-disclosure was not material, prompting the insurer's appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the failure to disclose an existing life insurance policy on the proposal form was a material non-disclosure that entitled the insurer to repudiate the claim, since the proposal form's declaration made the insured's statements the very basis of the contract (the "utmost good faith" principle governing insurance contracts). The Court found the NCDRC had taken an inconsistent view compared to its own earlier precedents on the same point and had not even tried to distinguish them, which it disapproved of. It rejected the argument that the insured's signature on an unread/unexplained form could excuse the misstatement, holding a signatory adopts the statements as his own regardless of whether he read them. The Court therefore allowed the insurer's appeal, set aside the NCDRC's order, and dismissed the consumer complaint, but, invoking Article 142, directed that the 50% of the claim amount already withdrawn by the widow under an earlier interim order not be recovered from her, balancing the legal outcome with equitable relief.
When filling out an insurance proposal form, disclose all existing or recently-applied-for insurance policies accurately, even an innocent-seeming omission can be treated as a material non-disclosure that lets the insurer validly deny a claim later, since the insured's declarations form the very basis of the insurance contract.
