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EMPOWERING LEGAL AWARENESS

Real judgements, distilled

Legal Case Shots

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.

Company & Insolvency LawSupreme Court of India

Greenopolis Welfare Confederation v. Rakesh Kumar Gupta

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1070

Fraud by the party who originally triggered a company's insolvency process doesn't automatically undo the entire process for everyone, once other genuine creditors and stakeholders (like homebuyers) are involved, the adjudicating body must weigh whether continuing the process still serves them, rather than simply cancelling it outright.

Decided 30 Sept 2026View details

Banking & Debt Recovery LawSupreme Court of India

Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited v. M/S P.M. Associates & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1071

The legal principle protecting the finality of confirmed auction sales exists to reward a lawfully conducted process, not to shield a sale riddled with procedural violations: courts can and will unwind even a long-settled auction if the underlying process was illegal.

Decided 30 Sept 2026View details

Criminal LawSupreme Court of India

Sainaba v. State of Kerala & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1069

For a cheque-bounce case, correctly addressing and dispatching the statutory demand notice is enough to trigger the legal presumption of valid service: the accused cannot escape liability merely because someone else at the same address received the notice on their behalf.

Decided 30 Sept 2026View details

Arbitration & Commercial LawSupreme Court of India

M/S Awadhesh Singh Gautam v. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1072

A government authority cannot bypass a contract's own procedural safeguards, like prior notice and a designated approving officer, to recover a disputed, unproven claim by simply withholding payments legitimately due under a separate contract.

Decided 30 Sept 2026View details

Civil Property & InheritanceDelhi High Court

Jagdish Kumar Arora vs. Dinesh Mittal

Regular First Appeal · 2026:DHC:8466

Occupying commercial premises, taking the keys, and carrying out renovation work can create tenant-like possession obligations even without ever signing a formal registered lease: verbal/WhatsApp-documented agreements plus conduct can be enough to lose a possession dispute.

Decided 29 Sept 2026View details

Criminal LawDelhi High Court

Dinesh Chand Upadhyay & Ors. vs. State/NCT of Delhi & Ors.

Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8489

Courts will not permit a private settlement to extinguish criminal proceedings for serious sexual offences once the complainant has already testified in support of the prosecution at trial.

Decided 29 Sept 2026View details

Arbitration & Commercial LawDelhi High Court

Mathur & Kapre Associates Private Limited vs. Union of India

Enforcement Petition (Commercial Arbitration) · 2026:DHC:8492

A recurring practical reminder: parties seeking to enforce arbitral awards in Delhi must ensure stamp duty is paid within one month of the award, or risk having enforcement proceedings stalled on this technical but mandatory ground.

Decided 29 Sept 2026View details

Criminal LawDelhi High Court

Rajender Kumar & Ors. vs. State NCT of Delhi & Anr.

Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8483

A private "compromise" between accused and complainant cannot override a serious criminal case once the survivor has testified in support of the prosecution: courts will not quash FIRs involving grave offences (especially against women) merely because parties have settled privately.

Decided 29 Sept 2026View details

Criminal LawDelhi High Court

Robin Kumar and Others vs. The State and Another

Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8480

A "compromise" in a matrimonial criminal case is unlikely to result in quashing of the FIR while the underlying marriage itself remains legally undissolved: courts want to see the matrimonial status resolved first.

Decided 29 Sept 2026View details

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Legal Case Shots is a searchable database of Supreme Court of India judgments, each broken down into the case type, the court's key holding, and a practical lesson learnt, with the full judgment available as a PDF for citation or deeper reading.

Civil Property & InheritanceSupreme Court of India

Vijay Prabhu v. S.T. Lajapathie & Ors.

Not available · 2025 INSC 52Decided 8 Jan 2025

Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No. 25246/2023

Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice R. Mahadevan

Background

The petitioner (original plaintiff) had sued for specific performance of a 2005 agreement to sell, or alternatively for Rs. 60 lakh in damages, after paying Rs. 20 lakh in earnest money towards a total consideration of Rs. 84 lakh. Both the trial court and the Madras High Court found that the plaintiff was not "ready and willing" to perform his part of the contract and had failed to pay the outstanding Rs. 64 lakh, and refused specific performance, ordering only a refund of the earnest money with interest.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined Section 12 of the Specific Relief Act, which allows a court to order specific performance of only part of a contract in limited circumstances (e.g., where the unperformed part is a small proportion of the whole, or the buyer relinquishes claims to the rest). It held these exceptions apply only when a party is genuinely "unable" to perform (due to loss of subject matter, legal prohibition, etc.), not when the plaintiff simply defaulted by choice, and having been found in default and not "ready and willing," the petitioner could not invoke Section 12(3) at all. The Court clarified that a plaintiff can validly relinquish claims to the remaining part of a contract at any stage of litigation, including on appeal, but this procedural point did not help the petitioner here since he remained a defaulting party. The Special Leave Petition was accordingly dismissed, though the Court ordered the already-deposited Rs. 20 lakh (with accrued interest) be refunded to the petitioner within four weeks.

Lesson Learnt

A buyer who defaults on the bulk of the agreed sale price cannot fall back on the "partial performance" provisions of the Specific Relief Act to salvage part of the deal: those provisions are meant for genuine inability to perform, not for a party who was simply not ready and willing to pay.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

Vijay Prabhu v. S.T. Lajapathie & Ors. – Legal Case Shots | LegalAware