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 moreIn 1996 the respondent (a would-be buyer) sued the appellant's grandmother for specific performance of an agreement under which she had agreed to sell a small commercial property in Palakkad, Kerala. After nearly three decades of litigation (including an ex parte decree, a restored trial, an appeal, and a dismissed Supreme Court petition) the decree for specific performance was conclusively upheld, and the seller's legal heirs (including the appellant, her grandson) were impleaded when she died during execution proceedings. Years later, the appellant sought to have his name deleted from the case, claiming he was wrongly impleaded and was instead a protected tenant of the property (inherited from his late father) whose rights could not be decided in execution proceedings; both the trial court and the Kerala High Court rejected this, and he appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the appellant, having been a witness to the original sale agreement and having earlier participated in the litigation without raising any objection to being impleaded, was using the tenancy claim as a delaying tactic filed too late in the process to be genuine. It agreed with the courts below that the right to possession of the property is implicit in a decree for specific performance directing execution of a sale deed, so there was no separate error in the lower courts' handling of possession. The appeal was dismissed with costs of Rs. 25,000, and since a sale deed had by then already been executed in the respondent's favour, the Court directed the executing court to ensure vacant possession was handed over within two months, with police assistance if necessary.
Courts take a dim view of parties who raise new objections, like a sudden tenancy claim, only after years of participating in litigation without protest; a decree for specific performance of a sale agreement is understood to carry the right to possession of the property along with it, even if possession is not separately spelt out.
