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.
14543 more judgements for members
You're seeing the newest cases. Log in — it's free — to keep scrolling, search by name or judge, and filter by court or legal area.
Log in to see moreThe only daughter of a lawyer and a doctor, who had become a widow at a young age, died in a road accident in 1998 while working as a sales engineer earning about Rs.6,273 a month. Her parents claimed compensation, and the Motions Accident Claims Tribunal awarded them about Rs.15.71 lakh by assuming her income would have doubled in future and deducting one-third for her personal expenses. On appeal, the High Court reduced this by assuming only a 50% future rise in income (per the Sarla Verma precedent) and deducting 50% instead of one-third for personal expenses (since she had no spouse or children), bringing the award down to about Rs.10.72 lakh, which the parents challenged before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that while the standard addition for future income rise is 50% under the Constitution Bench ruling in National Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Pranay Sethi, that standard percentage can be departed from where there is actual evidence proving a higher real-world career trajectory: here, unrebutted certificates showed the deceased's prospective salary would have reached Rs.14,000-17,000 per month, supporting the Tribunal's 100% increase. On the deduction for personal expenses, the Court agreed with the High Court that 50% was correct since the deceased, as a widow with parents as her only dependants, would have spent half her income on herself. Combining these findings (which offset each other and returned the base figure close to the original monthly income), applying the correct multiplier of 18, and adding standardised conventional amounts, the Court allowed the appeal and raised the total compensation to about Rs.14.25 lakh with interest and costs.
The "standard" formulas courts use for future income rise and personal-expense deductions in accident compensation cases are defaults, not rigid rules: a claimant who produces solid evidence of a higher actual earning trajectory can get a bigger award than the standard percentage would otherwise allow.
