Supreme Court of India Judgements

47270 Judgements hosted as on 05/07/2026 - Search (FREE), Subscribe @ Rs 99/- for 6 months, sclaw@sclaw.in, WA +91 9417245693.

Month: May 2026

Cr P C

. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 — Quashing of Criminal Proceedings — High Court’s power to quash — Allegations in complaint, even if taken at face value, do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused — High Court failed to exercise its power under Section 482 CrPC

May 14, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 481 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH NARAYANA HEALTH AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND OTHERS ( Before : Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe,…

Cr P C

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Investigation and Chargesheet Filing — Interim order restraining police from filing chargesheet is unsustainable if based on misinterpretation of law regarding High Court’s power under Article 226 and Section 528 of BNSS — Investigation may continue, but further steps depend on legal applicability of quashing provisions.

May 14, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 482 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SHRIKANT OJHA Vs. STATE OF UP AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal…

Constitution

Supreme Court Rules, 2013 — Order 12 Rule 3 — Correction of clerical or arithmetical mistakes or errors from accidental slip or omission — Application seeking clarification and correction regarding variance between dictated order and signed order — Held, Apex Court dismissed the application as not maintainable in law and on merits — Digitally signed order uploaded on the website is the final order — Miscellaneous applications in disposed of matters are maintainable only for correcting clerical or arithmetical errors or when the order is executory and impossible to implement due to subsequent events.

May 14, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 483 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH FAKIR MAMAD SULEMAN SAMEJA AND OTHERS Vs. ADANI PORTS AND SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES LTD. AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari…

Cr P C

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 161 — Evidence Act, 1872 — Section 157 and 145 — Hostile Witness — Evidence of a hostile witness remains admissible and can be accepted to the extent that their version is found dependable on careful scrutiny, and can be used to acquit the accused if it inspires credibility when read with other evidence — Such evidence can be employed to discredit the prosecution case.

May 14, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 486 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH TALARI NARESH Vs. THE STATE OF TELANGANA ( Before : Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No…..of…

Constitution

Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 226 — Exercise of Writ Jurisdiction — High Court’s power under Article 226 is extraordinary and discretionary, subject to self-imposed restrictions — Ordinarily, it should not be exercised when an effective alternative remedy is available to the aggrieved person, such as pursuing remedies under statutory frameworks like the CrPC or BNSS, unless specific exceptions apply.

May 12, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 442 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SUJAL VISHWAS ATTAVAR AND ANOTHER Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS ( Before : Sanjay Karol and Augustine George Masih,…

Consumer

Consumer Protection Act, 1986 — Applicability of Order 22 of CPC to death of parties — Section 13(7) made Order 22 of CPC applicable to death of complainant or opposite party, allowing substitution of legal heirs if the right to sue survives — This procedural rule must be harmoniously construed with substantive law like Section 306 of Indian Succession Act, 1925, which governs survivability of causes of action

May 12, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 443 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH KUMUD LALL Vs. SURESH CHANDRA ROY (DEAD) THROUGH LRS AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, JJ.…

Service Matters
Service

Service Law — Recruitment Rules — Eligibility Criteria — Date of Possession of Qualification — For recruitment to the post of Assistant Prosecution Officer, the essential educational qualification must be possessed by the candidate on the date of submission of the application, not at a later stage like the interview or examination date.

May 12, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 444 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH RAJASTHAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Vs. LAVANSHU SANKHLA AND OTHERS ( Before : Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

Service Matters
Service

Public Administration and Service Rules — Interpretation of merger of departments and promotion rules — The Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s judgment that questioned a government order (G.O.) granting a notional promotion to an employee — The Court found that the original G.O — was issued in compliance with prior High Court orders and a merger policy that was not challenged by any party, thus validating the promotion and subsequent advancements.

May 12, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 446 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU AND ANOTHER Vs. R. SASIPRIYA AND ANOTHER ( Before : Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan, JJ.…

You missed

Cr P C

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Sections 209, 244 — Commitment of case exclusively triable by Court of Session — Whether Magistrate is required to record prosecution evidence under Section 244 CrPC before committing such a case, where the complaint is one instituted otherwise than on a police report — Held, no — Section 244 CrPC, which mandates the Magistrate to hear the prosecution and take evidence, occurs in Chapter XIX (Part B — “Cases instituted otherwise than on a police report”) and governs warrant-case trials before a Magistrate; it has no application where the offence (here, under Section 302 IPC) is exclusively triable by the Court of Session, which is governed instead by Section 209 CrPC — Under the scheme of the 1973 Code (unlike the erstwhile 1898 Code, which mandated a full committal inquiry with recording of evidence under Section 207-A), the Magistrate’s role at the pre-commitment stage is confined to ascertaining whether the offence is exclusively triable by the Sessions Court, and no evidence need be taken or evaluated by the Magistrate at that stage — Requiring witnesses to depose twice, once before the Magistrate and again before the Sessions Court, would serve no purpose and is not the mandate of law — High Court’s contrary view, requiring compliance with Section 244 CrPC even in a Sessions-triable case, proceeds on an erroneous reading of law and is unsustainable.

Jul 5, 2026 sclaw
Accident

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Sections166, 168 — Compensation — Assessment of annual income of a self-employed deceased (wholesale grocery business) — Two ITRs filed after the death of the deceased excluded by the High Court altogether from the assessment of income — Held, following the principles in Rashmirekha Tripathy and Anr. v. The Branch Manager (Legal Claims), Sriram General Insurance Company Limited and Ors. [C.A. @ SLP(C) No.27220 of 2024, 2026 INSC 661], ITRs filed post-death call for closer scrutiny with reference to surrounding financial statements, since income may be inflated in such returns, but such returns are not to be excluded outright merely for being filed post-death — In the absence of the benefit of such surrounding financial statements on record, and it being inexpedient at this stage to remand the matter, annual income fixed with reference to the nature of the deceased’s wholesale grocery business at Rs.3,25,000 — Compensation recomputed applying 40% addition for future prospects (age 28 years), 1/4th deduction for personal expenses, and a multiplier of 17, together with conventional heads (loss of estate, funeral expenses, consortium) — Total compensation enhanced to Rs.60,79,550 (as against Rs.15,36,560 awarded by the Tribunal and Rs.38,40,850 awarded by the High Court), with interest as awarded by the Tribunal — Appeal allowed.

Jul 5, 2026 sclaw
Accident

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Sections 166, 168 — Compensation — Assessment of annual income of a self-employed deceased (Insurance Agent) from Income Tax Returns — High Court had averaged the last four ITRs on record — Held, erroneous — Following the principles laid down in Rashmirekha Tripathy and Anr. v. The Branch Manager (Legal Claims), Sriram General Insurance Company Limited and Ors. [C.A. @ SLP(C) No.27220 of 2024, 2026 INSC 661], for a self-employed person the average of up to the previous three years’ ITRs, not four, is the appropriate reference point — A performance-linked spike in the income of an Insurance Agent in a particular year does not justify reaching back to an additional, earlier ITR to dilute that spike — On the facts, taking the average of the income for AY 2015-16 (Rs.4,03,180), AY 2016-17 (Rs.9,59,665) and AY 2017-18 (Rs.7,00,559), annual income assessed at Rs.6,87,802 — Compensation recomputed applying 25% addition for future prospects (age 49 years), 1/4th deduction for personal expenses, and a multiplier of 13, together with conventional heads (loss of estate, funeral expenses, consortium) — Total compensation enhanced to Rs.87,09,282 (as against Rs.49,77,000 awarded by the Tribunal and Rs.76,09,500 awarded by the High Court), with interest as awarded by the Tribunal — Appeal allowed.

Jul 5, 2026 sclaw
Accident

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Sections 166, 168 — Compensation — Assessment of annual income of deceased/claimant on the basis of Income Tax Returns — Whether the ITR of the previous year alone, or the average of the previous two/three years, is to be taken — Held, no hard and fast formula governs computation of annual income; ITRs, being statutory documents, are an important reference point, but a bifurcation must be made between salaried and self-employed individuals — (i) For salaried individuals, the ITR of the previous year alone ordinarily suffices, since the financial impact of a promotion or salary revision is best reflected in that year’s return; where the deceased had not completed a year in a promoted position, or had not filed a return for that period, the Court may rely on the promotion letter and other corroborative financial statements; (ii) For self-employed persons/those running their own business, the average of the ITRs for up to the previous three years is to be taken as the reference point, having regard to the inherent income fluctuation in such professions — In assessing self-employed income, the surrounding circumstances to be additionally considered include: (a) the nature of the business (including geography and category); (b) its growth pattern and the impact of the death on the business; (c) its potential/future growth, including capital-intensive businesses profitable only at scale; (d) the possibility of negative income in initial years not reflecting the true financial standing; and (e) any other relevant factor — The date of filing of an ITR is also relevant, since income may be inflated after the death/injury; such returns call for closer scrutiny against surrounding financial statements, though they are not to be excluded outright merely for being filed post-death, if adequately supported.

Jul 5, 2026 sclaw