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 moreA tenant of agricultural land in Punjab/Haryana remained in possession after his fixed-term lease (1996-2005) expired, and the landlord sought his eviction. A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had earlier held (in Sukhdev Singh) that such a tenant loses statutory protection once the fixed term ends, but a later Co-ordinate Bench disagreed, so the question was referred to this three-judge Bench: does a tenant under the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 automatically cease to be a "tenant" the moment a fixed-term agricultural lease expires?
The Court found that the lease deed, being unregistered, could not be looked into to prove its fixed duration (Section 107, Transfer of Property Act, applies to agricultural leases in Punjab/Haryana by special gazette notifications, unlike most of India). Treating the lease instead as a deemed year-to-year tenancy under Section 106 of that Act, the Court held the tenant's continued possession beyond that period, with the landlord's implied consent, made him a "tenant holding over" under Section 116: a status that still attracts statutory protection under the 1953 Act. Protection from eviction is therefore available only to someone who remains a "tenant" in this sense; a person whose tenancy has genuinely and completely ended has no such protection. Applying this, the Court answered the referred question, allowed the appeal, and set aside the High Court's eviction order.
Simply reaching the end of a written agricultural lease term doesn't automatically strip a tenant of legal protection: if the landlord lets the tenant keep possession afterward, the law treats that as "holding over," which keeps the tenant's protected status alive until the landlord properly ends it through the lawful eviction process.
