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 moreDuring execution of a possession decree in favour of a charitable trust, the judgment-debtors produced what appeared to be interim stay orders of the Madras High Court to block delivery of possession. Investigation revealed the orders were completely fabricated: forged in the name of a sitting judge who had not even been hearing such matters on the date shown. Three of the persons involved in creating and using these fake orders were convicted by the High Court for criminal contempt and sentenced to six months' simple imprisonment.
The Supreme Court rejected the appellants' argument that the contempt action was time-barred, holding that the suo motu contempt proceeding was effectively initiated when the Single Judge directed the matter to the contempt bench in 2018, within a year of the fraud, even though the case file was later misplaced in the registry for four years before formal notice issued. On merits, the Court found the CBCID investigation, forensic report, recorded phone conversations, and the appellants' own affidavits established beyond reasonable doubt that they created and used the forged orders. It upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence from six months to one month's simple imprisonment as excessive.
Fabricating a court order is treated as one of the gravest forms of contempt because it strikes at the integrity of the justice system itself, and a bureaucratic delay in registering a case does not by itself make a genuinely timely contempt action time-barred; sentencing, however, will still be calibrated to the individual's role.
