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 moreONGC awarded a seismic-survey contract to a Singapore company, Reflect Geophysical, which in turn chartered a specialised survey vessel, "Geowave Commander," from its Norwegian owners under a bareboat charter. The appellants (owners of other vessels, such as fishing trawlers and the "Orion Laxmi") had maritime claims against Reflect Geophysical as the charterer, and sought to secure those claims by having the Bombay High Court order the arrest/restraint of the Geowave Commander: a ship owned not by Reflect Geophysical but by a third party (the Norwegian owners). The question was whether a ship can be arrested for a maritime claim against its charterer when the ship itself belongs to someone else entirely uninvolved in that claim.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, holding that the Geowave Commander could not be arrested for the appellants' maritime claims. Applying principles under the International Convention on Arrest of Ships, 1999 (and India's then-pending 2017 Admiralty legislation reflecting the same principle), the Court held that a ship may only be arrested if the person liable for the maritime claim is either the owner of that very ship, or its demise/time/voyage charterer at the relevant time and still its charterer or owner when the arrest is sought. Here, the appellants' claims arose from their own vessels being chartered by Reflect Geophysical for unrelated purposes: Reflect Geophysical was not shown to be the "demise charterer" (effectively a temporary owner with full possession and control) of the Geowave Commander in the relevant sense, and the actual owners of the Geowave Commander had no connection to the appellants' claims at all. The Court dissolved the earlier interim order that had led to money being deposited in court and directed that the deposited amount, with interest, be returned to the Geowave Commander's owners.
A ship cannot be seized to satisfy a claim against someone else's debt merely because that debtor also happens to have chartered it: the law allows arrest only against the ship actually owned by, or genuinely under the full control of, the person who owes the maritime claim.
