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 moreThis judgment jointly decided three writ petitions by Private Tour Operators (PTOs) whose applications to conduct Haj 2018 pilgrimage services were rejected by the Union Government for failing to meet conditions of the Haj PTO Policy 2018. Writ Petition (C) No. 638 of 2018 was filed by Ruby Tour Services Pvt. Ltd., a long-time registered PTO whose 2018 application was rejected on the ground that its claimed annual turnover of Rs. 2.16 crore (needed to meet the Rs. 1 crore minimum-turnover condition) actually belonged to a different entity, a sole proprietorship, "Ruby Tours & Travels", rather than to the newly incorporated private limited company that had actually applied for registration.
The Court held that since the petitioner company had produced no document showing that the proprietorship's business, assets and turnover had actually been transferred to or merged into the company, the Government was justified in refusing to treat the proprietorship's turnover as the company's own, and the rejection on this ground (non-compliance with Clause (iv) of the policy) was neither perverse nor baseless. It further rejected the argument that the Government was estopped from raising this objection merely because a similar issue had not been caught in an earlier year's registration, holding there is no estoppel against the Government correcting an earlier oversight. Having upheld the rejection on this turnover ground alone, the Court found it unnecessary to examine the second ground of rejection (missing/defective rental receipts) and dismissed Ruby Tour's writ petition. (In the two companion petitions decided in the same judgment, the Court set aside one rejection as based on trivial, non-substantive documentation errors, awarding Rs. 5 lakh compensation to that petitioner, and upheld the rejection of the third petitioner for failure to properly explain discrepancies in its submitted rental documents.)
When a business changes its legal form (e.g., from a sole proprietorship to a private limited company), it must formally document the transfer of assets, liabilities and business history to the new entity: a regulator is entitled to disregard the predecessor's track record or financial figures if that continuity isn't proven on paper, even where the business has effectively continued under new management.
