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 moreThis case flows from the Supreme Court's 2012 judgment in the 2G spectrum scam case, which quashed illegally granted telecom licences (including the respondent's) but let affected companies keep operating temporarily while a fresh spectrum auction was arranged, to avoid disrupting public telecom service. Because that auction repeatedly got delayed, the Court passed several extension orders, and in February 2013 directed that any licensee which had "continued operations after 02.02.2012" must pay the reserve price fixed for the November 2012 auction. The telecom regulator (TDSAT) later interpreted this to mean the company's payment liability started only from 15.02.2013 (not from 02.02.2012), significantly reducing what it owed; the government (DoT) appealed this interpretation to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held the TDSAT's interpretation was "wholly erroneous." It found the 2013 order's own wording plainly fixed 02.02.2012, the date the original licences were quashed, as the start date for the reserve-price liability, not the later date of the order itself; had the Court intended a different start date it would have said so explicitly. The Court agreed with the TDSAT, however, on the end date: liability stopped once the company was issued a formal Letter of Intent (30.04.2013) for the circles it won in the fresh auction, since that document itself started the new 20-year licence term from that date, and for other circles the liability ended when the company actually stopped operating. On interest, the Court agreed the DoT could only charge interest from the date its own show-cause notice's response period expired (December 2014), since the government's own delay in acting on the 2013 order could not be used against the company. The appeal was allowed on these corrected terms, effectively increasing the amount owed compared to the TDSAT's ruling.
When interpreting a Supreme Court order's compliance deadlines, tribunals must read the plain wording of the order rather than substitute a more convenient date of their own; regulatory liabilities run from the date fixed in the order itself, but a government agency's own delay in enforcing a demand cannot be used to charge interest for the period of its own inaction.
