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 complainant, wife of a man allegedly murdered, filed a complaint against an Assistant Commissioner of Police and two subordinate police officials (the present appellants), alleging that the deceased was murdered at the ACP's instance. In a related earlier round of litigation concerning the ACP, the Supreme Court had held in 2006 that no prosecution sanction was required because beating a person to death could not be an act done in discharge of official duty; that ruling only concerned the ACP, not the two subordinate appellants. The magistrate had summoned all three accused, and the Calcutta High Court, in a revision, directed the magistrate to proceed against the present appellants as well, leading to this appeal in which the appellants argued they too needed prior government sanction under Section 197 CrPC before being prosecuted.
The Supreme Court held that Section 197(1) CrPC's sanction requirement protects only public servants who cannot be removed from service except with the sanction of the government, and since the appellants were subordinate-rank police officers removable without such sanction, that provision did not apply to them. It then examined whether Section 197(2), which protects members of Armed Forces of the Union, extendable by state notification to police forces charged with maintaining public order under Section 197(3): could apply, given that West Bengal had issued such notifications in 2010 extending this protection to subordinate police ranks. The Court held that the bar under Section 197 operates at the stage the court takes cognizance of the offence, and since cognizance in this case was taken back in 2001, well before the 2010 notifications came into existence, those notifications could not retroactively bar or invalidate a cognizance order already validly taken. The appeal was accordingly dismissed, with the Court expressly clarifying it had not commented on the merits of the underlying murder allegations.
Whether a public servant needs government sanction before being prosecuted is judged as of the date the court takes cognizance of the case: a law or notification introduced afterward extending sanction protection cannot be used retrospectively to shield someone from a prosecution that was validly begun before that protection existed.
