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 moreInvestors Ram Kishori Gupta and her husband bought shares of Vital Communications Limited (VCL) based on allegedly misleading advertisements about a buyback and bonus issue, and suffered heavy losses when the share price collapsed. After years of SEBI proceedings, including an order restraining VCL and its promoters from the securities market in 2014, followed by a later 2018 order also directing disgorgement of ill-gotten gains: the Securities Appellate Tribunal separately ordered SEBI to compensate the investors and separately set aside the disgorgement order as barred by res judicata. SEBI appealed the compensation direction, and the investors and VCL cross-appealed other aspects.
The Supreme Court held that once SEBI's 2014 order (which only restrained market access without ordering disgorgement) attained finality without being challenged, SEBI could not reopen the same cause of action four years later to pass a fresh disgorgement order in 2018: this violated the principle of res judicata, which applies equally to administrative and quasi-judicial bodies. The Court also held that the Tribunal's 2013 order had already finally rejected the investors' claim for direct compensation from SEBI, so the Tribunal could not later reinterpret that order to direct restitution in 2019. The Court set aside both the compensation direction against SEBI and the Tribunal's earlier award of costs against SEBI, while upholding the quashing of the disgorgement order.
A regulator or tribunal cannot pass a fresh order on the same set of facts and cause of action once its own earlier order has become final: the doctrine of finality (res judicata) binds administrative bodies just as it binds courts, and investors seeking compensation for market fraud must generally pursue civil remedies rather than expect direct compensation orders from a regulator like SEBI.
