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 Aircel group of companies, which held telecom spectrum licences from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and owed large sums to lenders including State Bank of India (over Rs.13,700 crore) as well as substantial licence fees and spectrum usage charges to DoT (nearly Rs.9,900 crore), went into corporate insolvency resolution under the IBC after failing to pay their dues. A resolution plan was approved by the lenders' committee and the NCLT, treating spectrum as an asset of the corporate debtor that could be transferred to a resolution applicant, but DoT challenged this before the NCLAT, arguing that spectrum, a scarce natural resource allocated by the government, cannot simply be treated as ordinary corporate property to be resolved under insolvency law free of the government's dues and regulatory conditions. Multiple linked appeals (by SBI, the resolution applicant, the resolution professionals of Aircel and Reliance Communications entities, and the Union of India) reached the Supreme Court on this common question.
The Supreme Court held that spectrum is a finite natural resource and material resource of the community, over which the Union holds ownership and trusteeship for the common good, and it is governed by a complete and exhaustive statutory regime under the Telegraph Act, Wireless Telegraphy Act, and TRAI Act rather than by ordinary property law. It ruled that merely because spectrum is entered as an "asset" in a telecom company's books of account does not bring the entirety of spectrum rights within the sweep of the IBC, treating it as such would let "the tail wag the dog" and would allow insolvency law to override the specialized telecom regulatory framework, which Parliament never intended. Accordingly, the Court held that spectrum allocated to telecom service providers cannot be subjected to CIRP proceedings under the IBC, dismissing the appeals of SBI, the resolution applicant, and the resolution professionals, while allowing the Union of India's appeal in part.
Not everything a company records as an "asset" in its accounts can be freely sold off or restructured through insolvency proceedings: scarce public resources like telecom spectrum, allocated and regulated under a dedicated statutory scheme, remain subject to that scheme's conditions (including dues owed to the government) even when the company holding them becomes insolvent.
