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 case arose from a long-running family land dispute dating back to a 1976 suit, concerning the shares of a common ancestor's (Smt. Parsin Kaur's) land in a village in Mohali district, Punjab. On an earlier occasion the Supreme Court had referred the parties to the Mediation and Conciliation Centre of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to try to resolve the dispute amicably. After several joint and separate mediation sessions between August and November 2015, the actually contesting parties (narrowed down to two individuals on each side) reached a voluntary written settlement.
The settlement set out a detailed division of the specific disputed properties, including transfer of certain named properties to one party against a payment of Rs. 4,20,000, and an equal 50-50 split of the ancestor's remaining land between the two branches of the family, to be formally partitioned later through the revenue authorities. Both parties confirmed the agreement was voluntary, informed, and final, and asked the Court to dispose of the appeal in its terms. The Supreme Court, satisfied that the settlement was genuine and duly signed before the mediator, simply disposed of the appeal in terms of that settlement, without separately adjudicating the underlying legal dispute.
Court-referred mediation can fully and finally resolve even decades-old family property disputes, once parties sign a mediated settlement and ask the court to dispose of the case on those terms, the court will ordinarily do so without re-examining the merits, making mediation a practical route to end protracted litigation.
