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 moreA father, worried that one of his four sons would waste the family estate due to alcoholism, executed an unregistered will in 1993 leaving his property to his four daughters-in-law. After his death, that same son sold his share of the property by a registered sale deed to the respondent-complainant. Years later, the complainant filed a criminal complaint alleging that the family had forged the will to defeat his purchase, resulting in a criminal case against the daughters-in-law (the appellants) that remained pending for over two decades. The Allahabad High Court refused to quash the complaint, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the dispute was, at its core, a civil disagreement over competing claims to property, a sale deed on one side and a will on the other, that had been dressed up as a criminal fraud case. Relying on established principles (including State of Karnataka v. L. Muniswamy and the Bhajan Lal guidelines) that criminal courts must guard against abuse of process, the Court found none of the alleged offences were actually made out and that continuing a complaint pending for over 20 years served no purpose. It quashed the criminal proceedings, while clarifying that its observations would not affect any separate civil proceedings between the parties.
Courts will quash criminal complaints that are really civil property or title disputes repackaged as fraud allegations, particularly where such proceedings have dragged on for years without serving any genuine purpose: the criminal justice system is not a tool for settling civil scores.
