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 respondent owned 14.57 acres of land recorded as paddy/wetland and applied to have part of it removed from the government's protected "data bank" so she could use it for another purpose (securing an education loan). A government notification exempted landowners from paying a conversion fee on land up to 25 cents. The dispute was whether that 25-cent fee exemption applied to only the portion of land up to 25 cents (with fees due only on the excess), or whether it exempted an entire holding as long as some component measured 25 cents or less: the Kerala High Court's Single Judge and Division Bench had ruled in the landowner's favour on this calculation question.
The Supreme Court examined the notification and related Rule 12 of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Rules, 2008, which explicitly graduates the fee: nil up to 25 cents, and a percentage of fair value for land above that threshold up to 1 acre. Reading the notification's clarification (that different documents covering a single contiguous holding are aggregated for the cut-off calculation) alongside this rule, the Court held that the fee exemption was intended only for land up to 25 cents in total, not as a blanket exemption regardless of the total extent owned. It therefore overruled the High Court's interpretation and directed that the landowner must pay a conversion fee calculated on the entire extent of land in her ownership.
When a government notification grants a fee exemption up to a specified threshold, courts will read it together with the underlying rules' fee schedule to determine whether the exemption applies only to the threshold portion or to the entire holding: landowners should not assume a partial exemption threshold shields their whole property from fees.
