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 Kerala government issued guidelines in 2011 that private schools seeking a "No Objection Certificate" (needed to affiliate with the CBSE board) must have a minimum of 3 acres of land and at least 300 enrolled students. Several school managements challenged these conditions in the Kerala High Court, which struck down both requirements as arbitrary. The State of Kerala then brought this batch of petitions (and several tagged matters) to the Supreme Court to challenge that High Court ruling.
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision and dismissed the State's petitions. It found that the CBSE's own Affiliation Bye-laws already provided a flexible, location-based land requirement (as low as 1 acre in big cities, hilly areas, the North-East or J&K), while Kerala imposed a rigid 3-acre rule with no stated rational basis and, tellingly, did not even apply it to government-run or aided schools. On the 300-student rule, the Court held it had no connection to educational quality and could in fact make it impossible for schools following the mandated 30:1 student-teacher ratio under the RTE Act to ever qualify, since affiliation itself is a prerequisite for reaching higher grades. The Court left open a separate issue about compulsory student ID enrolment, pending a Constitution Bench ruling on Aadhaar/UID.
A state government cannot impose eligibility conditions on private institutions that have no rational, evidence-based link to the stated public purpose (here, educational quality), especially where the condition is more rigid than the national regulator's own framework and is selectively applied only to disfavoured institutions.
