Supreme Court of India Judgements

47095 Judgements hosted as on 19/04/2026 - Search (FREE), Subscribe, Read & Download

Category: Constitution

Constitution

Reservation Policy — Other Backward Classes (OBC) — Creamy Layer Exclusion — Interpretation of Office Memorandum (OM) dated 08.09.1993 and Clarificatory Letter dated 14.10.2004 — Salary income exclusion — Hostile discrimination — Held, the clarificatory letter dated 14.10.2004, particularly paragraph 9 thereof, should not be interpreted in isolation or in a manner that overrides the substantive scheme of the 1993 OM — Overemphasis on the 2004 letter making income alone determinative without considering parental status and category of service would defeat the framework of exclusion under the 1993 OM — Determination of creamy layer status solely on income brackets without reference to posts and status parameters in the 1993 OM is unsustainable — Hostile discrimination arises when similarly placed individuals are treated differently without a constitutionally sustainable basis, thereby attracting provisions of Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution — Appeals dismissed

Mar 15, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 230 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS Vs. ROHITH NATHAN AND ANOTHER ( Before : Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and R. Mahadevan, JJ. )…

Constitution

Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 32 — Writ Petition — Delay and Laches — Doctrine of laches is a flexible rule of practice, not a rigid rule of law, to be applied on case-to-case basis based on judicial discretion — It requires balancing the equity of not allowing stale claims against the constitutional duty to enforce fundamental rights — Key considerations include inordinate delay, explanation for delay, and prejudice to third-party rights or settled matters — Unexplained delay is critical; delay attributable to the State’s conduct cannot be used against the petitioner — Claims affecting the public at large or challenging the vires of a statute might warrant a less strict application of laches, especially when addressing historical injustices or transformative constitutionalism — The Court must weigh the need for finality against the need to rectify injustice and has the power to mould relief to minimize disruption while enforcing fundamental rights.

Mar 15, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 236 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MIZO CHIEF COUNCIL MIZORAM, THR. PRESIDENT SHRI L. CHINZAH Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : J.B. Pardiwala and…

Service Matters
Constitution Service

Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act) — Disability — Mental Illness and Specific Learning Disability — Post of Auditor in CAG — Identified as not suitable for persons with benchmark disabilities suffering from mental illness, but later identified as suitable for Group C posts of Assistant (Audit) and Auditor-II through Notification dated 4th January, 2021 — Court directs accommodation in suitable Group C posts.

Mar 14, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 232 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SUDHANSHU KARDAM Vs. COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. )…

Service Matters
Constitution Service

Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 311(2) second proviso (b) — Dismissal from service without departmental inquiry — Requirement of reasonable practicability — Mere presumption or belief by disciplinary authority not sufficient — Must be based on objective facts and material on record. Article 311(2) second proviso (b) — Dispensing with departmental inquiry — Decision of disciplinary authority not binding on courts; subject to judicial review — Reasons for dispensing must be plausible and based on definite material.

Mar 14, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 234 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MANOHAR LAL Vs. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND OTHERS ( Before : J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar, JJ. ) Civil Appeal…

Artificial Intelligence Constitution

Artificial Intelligence (AI) — Use in Legal Proceedings — Reliance on AI-generated judgments by a court is a serious matter concerning the integrity of the judicial process — Such judgments, if non-existent or fake, amount to misconduct rather than a simple error of judgment — Supreme Court orders examination of consequences and accountability for such practices — Notice issued to the Attorney General, Solicitor General, and Bar Council of India to address this institutional concern.

Mar 4, 2026 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH GUMMADI USHA RANI AND ANOTHER Vs. SURE MALLIKARJUNA RAO AND ANOTHER ( Before : Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, JJ. ) Petition(s) for…

Constitution

Prisoner Rights — Human Dignity and Rights — The strength of a constitutional democracy is tested not merely by the liberties it guarantees abstractly, but by the manner in which it treats those at its margins — Prisons, though instruments of lawful confinement, are not spaces where constitutional values cease to operate — The guarantee of life and personal dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India extends beyond prison gates, obliging the State to ensure that incarceration does not degenerate into inhumanity — Overcrowded prisons, bereft of humane living conditions and rehabilitative avenues, strike at the very core of this constitutional promise and call for sustained institutional response rather than sporadic remedial measures.

Feb 28, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 198 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SUHAS CHAKMA Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. ) Writ Petition (C)…

Constitution

. Cricket Association Rules — Applicability of Supreme Court Judgments — A district cricket association’s rules and bye-laws are not necessarily required to be identical to those of the national cricket governing body (BCCI) based on previous Supreme Court judgments, as the specific rulings in those cases did not mandate such precise conformity for district associations.

Feb 22, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 154 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH THE TIRUCHIRAPPALLI DISTRICT CRICKET ASSOCIATION Vs. ANNA NAGAR CRICKET CLUB AND ANOTHER ETC. ( Before : Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok…

Constitution

Essential Commodities Act, 1955 — Sections 3, 7 — Cement Control Order, 1967 — Maharashtra Cement (Licensing and Control) Order, 1973 — Decontrol of cement price and distribution from March 1, 1989 — Conviction for offences relating to cement contravention after decontrol — Unsustainable in law — Prosecution fundamentally unsustainable due to absence of operative control order on relevant date.

Feb 22, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 152 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MANOJ Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANOTHER ( Before : B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. 1630…

Constitution

Feb 22, 2026 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MARYAMAA JOSH AND OTHERS Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS ( Before : Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, JJ. ) Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).113/2026…

Constitution

Societies Registration Act, 1860 — Societies formed for charitable purposes — Members of government service entitled to housing facilities through transparent allotment — The society, HEWO, formed for welfare of HUDA employees, not subject to Article 12 of the Constitution, but must adhere to principles of fairness and transparency in allotments as it enjoys privilege of land allotted by government.

Feb 22, 2026 sclaw

2026 INSC 163 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH DINESH KUMAR Vs. THE STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS ( Before : Sanjay Kumar and K. Vinod Chandran, JJ. ) Civil…

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Consumer Insurance Law

Insurance Law — Fire Insurance Claim — Assessment of Loss — Survey Report — Admissibility and Weightage — Admissibility of Survey Report as Primary Evidence — In insurance claims, a survey report, prepared by an expert after physical inspection, is considered primary and significant evidence — It cannot be disregarded without strong contrary evidence showing arbitrariness or unreasonableness.

Apr 19, 2026 sclaw
Consumer

Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — Section 2(1)(d) — Consumer — A person purchasing a vehicle for business to earn livelihood is a consumer. — Deficiency in service — No deficiency in service if a vehicle model is not available and another available model is given to the buyer as per mutual understanding and agreement, and the buyer fails to make payments for the second vehicle.

Apr 19, 2026 sclaw
Service

Regularisation of contractual/ad hoc employees — Notifications dated 16.06.2014 and 18.06.2014, which sought to regularise the services of Group ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’ employees were found to be valid as they aimed to provide benefits to employees left out from a previous regularisation policy and had clear criteria for eligibility such as working on sanctioned posts and possessing necessary qualifications.

Apr 19, 2026 sclaw
Environment Mining

Environmental Law and Wildlife Protection — Illegal Sand Mining — Supreme Court’s Suo Motu Cognizance — The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of rampant illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, recognizing its severe impact on wildlife habitats, including endangered Gharials. The Court issued notices to concerned states and authorities, highlighting that such destruction of habitats violates environmental protection laws like the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Apr 19, 2026 sclaw