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 moreThe petitioners sought an independent inquiry into the death of Special CBI Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, who died on 1 December 2014 in Nagpur while presiding over the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh "encounter" case, after Caravan magazine published articles in November 2017 raising suspicions about the circumstances of his death based on accounts attributed to his family. The petitions, along with related writ petitions and transferred criminal cases, asked the Supreme Court to direct a fresh investigation (including by a Special Investigation Team) into whether Judge Loya's death was due to natural causes or something more sinister.
The Supreme Court held there was no merit in the writ petitions, relying on the clear, consistent, and credible statements of four judicial officers who were with Judge Loya at the time and the documentary medical record, all of which indicated death from natural causes (a cardiac event), and found no reasonable basis to doubt their account or to order a further inquiry. The Court also found the conduct of the petitioners and intervenors to be lacking in bona fides and amounting to a misuse of the judicial process, prima facie constituting criminal contempt, but chose not to initiate contempt proceedings so as not to give an impression of unequal treatment, stating that the judiciary's credibility rests on moral authority rather than the threat of contempt law. The writ petitions were accordingly dismissed, and the transferred cases disposed of, with one transferred case remitted to the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) solely for issues unrelated to Judge Loya's death, since that specific question was held to be conclusively settled by this judgment.
Courts require credible, consistent evidence, not media reports or suspicion alone, before ordering a fresh criminal investigation into a death, and litigants who use judicial proceedings to pursue unsubstantiated claims risk being found to have misused the legal process, even where a court declines to formally punish that misuse as contempt.
