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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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Legal Case Shots is a searchable database of Supreme Court of India judgments, each broken down into the case type, the court's key holding, and a practical lesson learnt, with the full judgment available as a PDF for citation or deeper reading.
272 workmen and employees of ABG Shipyard Limited (a company undergoing insolvency proceedings) at its Dahej Yard and Mumbai office claimed unpaid salaries/wages for the period during the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) and before it. When the company was eventually ordered into liquidation, the insolvency tribunal (NCLT) did not grant them relief on this claim, and the appellate tribunal (NCLAT) upheld that decision, only allowing the workers to file individual claims before the appointed Liquidator. The workers appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that since the law required the Resolution Professional to run the company as a "going concern" during CIRP, they were automatically entitled to have their wages during that period treated as top-priority "CIRP costs."
The Supreme Court held that wages during the CIRP period can only be counted as high-priority "CIRP costs" if it is actually proved that the company was run as a going concern during that time and that the specific workers actually worked during that period. It cannot simply be presumed just because the law directs the Resolution Professional to "make every endeavour" to run it as a going concern. Since there was a genuine factual dispute over whether ABG Shipyard was actually operating during CIRP and whether these specific workers worked, the Court directed the Liquidator to independently examine and decide these facts for each worker's claim within twelve weeks. Separately, the Court clarified that provident fund, gratuity, and pension fund dues are completely protected. They are excluded from the company's liquidation assets altogether under the law, so the Liquidator has no claim over these funds and workers are entitled to them regardless of the CIRP dispute. The appeal was therefore partly allowed, with the amount already set aside earlier to be used to pay whatever is found due once the Liquidator adjudicates the claims.
Employees of a company going through bankruptcy are not automatically entitled to top-priority payment of wages for the insolvency period, that depends on proof that the company was actually run as a going concern and that they actually worked during that time, but their provident fund, gratuity, and pension dues are always protected and kept outside the pool of company assets used to pay other creditors.
