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 moreA wakf (an Islamic charitable endowment) had been managed for generations by a line of mutawallis (managers) under a 1913 wakf deed providing that the office would pass "putro poutradi krome" down the family line. When the last male mutawalli died without a son, his widow, Nazira Khatoon, claimed the office based on a 1984 trust deed he had executed in her favour, and the Wakf Board initially appointed her. The deceased mutawalli's nephew challenged this, arguing the wakf deed restricted the office to male descendants only, and the dispute wound through the Wakf Board, the Wakf Tribunal, and the Calcutta High Court before reaching the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had to decide whether a mutawalli could transfer his office via a private trust deed, and whether the phrase "putro poutradi krome" in the original wakf deed included female descendants. The Court held that a mutawalli has no independent power to transfer his office by creating a separate trust instrument where the original wakf deed already prescribes a line of succession, so the 1984 trust deed in favour of the widow was ineffective. On interpreting the Bengali phrase, the Court preferred the reading that "putro poutradi krome" means "sons and grandsons in succession," finding that the individual meaning of "putro" (son) must inform the combined phrase, and therefore female descendants did not qualify. The Court accordingly upheld the Calcutta High Court's decision affirming the nephew's right to be mutawalli and dismissed the appeal.
A person managing a religious/charitable trust (mutawalli) cannot unilaterally rewrite the succession rules of the founding deed through a private document in their own family's favour: the original endowment deed's terms govern, and courts will interpret ambiguous succession language strictly against expanding who qualifies.
