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 moreVenkatesan, a member of a banned organisation involved in violent activities, was convicted in multiple criminal cases over the years. While facing trial in one case (S.C. No.2 of 2002), he was repeatedly produced from other prisons on transit warrants during periods when he was already serving sentences for separate convictions. After his eventual conviction in S.C. No.2 of 2002, he sought to have those transit-warrant periods "set off" against his sentence under Section 428 of the CrPC, and the Madras High Court allowed this via a petition under Section 482 CrPC. The prison authorities and police appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging both the High Court's jurisdiction to entertain that petition and the substance of the set-off.
The Supreme Court held that the High Court erred in entertaining a Section 482 CrPC petition when a statutory appeal remedy was available under Section 374(2) CrPC. On the substantive question, the Court found that Section 428 CrPC's conflicting precedents, particularly the fractured three-judge bench decision in Najakat Alia Mubarak Ali, could not be reconciled: one line of authority holds that detention "of the same case" excludes periods when the accused was actually in custody for a different, unrelated case, while another reads it more liberally. Rather than resolve the conflict itself, the two-judge bench referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India to constitute a larger bench for an authoritative ruling, and stayed the set-off direction in the meantime (while protecting Venkatesan from being taken back into custody if already released).
Even where a legal question looks well-settled on paper, conflicting Supreme Court precedents can leave real uncertainty: this case shows the Court's practice of referring unresolved conflicts to a larger bench rather than simply picking a side, and reminds litigants that a special remedy like a Section 482 CrPC petition cannot bypass an available statutory appeal.
