Constitutional Law

16 years of litigation ended because IBPS is not 'State' under Article 12.

The Supreme Court held that IBPS is not amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226, leaving candidates with only civil suits or consumer complaints as remedies.

5 min read

30-year-old letter admitted as evidence—court cites convenience

Supreme Court says proving handwriting after three decades is nearly impossible, so old documents get a presumption of genuineness if kept properly.

7 min read

38 writ petitions later: why your bank LOC may be unconstitutional now.

A Bombay High Court ruling strikes down executive memos that let public sector banks ground borrowers at airports, and raises a fundamental question about who can restrict your right to travel.

5 min read

A bank got a written promise to pay after the debt was time-barred. The Supreme Court said: that's a new contract.

Kotak Mahindra Bank lent Rs 24.55 crore to a parts manufacturer. The company defaulted in 2015. Three years later, it signed a settlement. When it didn't pay, the bank filed for insolvency. Was the claim dead or alive?

6 min read

A bank's loan was time-barred. A settlement letter changed everything.

Kotak Mahindra Bank filed for insolvency after the 3-year limit. The Supreme Court found that a written promise to pay a dead debt can create a fresh contract — and a new clock.

6 min read

A club said one thing in court, another in a form. The Supreme Court pounced.

The South Delhi Club denied its landlord's title in its written statement. But when it filed a separate application to avoid eviction, it admitted the exact facts it later denied. The Court ruled: you can't have it both ways.

6 min read

A registered sale agreement was called 'sham' by the seller's own uncle. The Supreme Court said: evidence allowed.

Sections 91-92 of Evidence Act don't bar proof that a written contract was never meant to be acted upon. But the twist? The uncle was also a plaintiff.

6 min read

A tremor in the signature. The court said: not proof of forgery.

The High Court reversed a probate based on an expert who said the testator's tremor didn't exist in 1943. The Supreme Court reversed back, ruling that handwriting experts can't override witness testimony.

6 min read

A will says one thing. The court says: that's it.

Justice Mukherjea ruled that judges can sit in the testator's armchair—but only to understand the words, never to rewrite them.

7 min read

Appeals court can't judge witness's 'vibe' if trial judge didn't write it down

A witness's demeanor—their hesitation, confidence, or shifty eyes—matters. But the Supreme Court says only the trial judge who saw it can note it. If they didn't, an appeals court calling a witness 'evasive' is just hot air.

4 min read

Bad trial judgment? Don't ask for a remand — the appellate court must decide anyway.

When the Patna High Court sent a case back to trial because the judgment was poorly written, the Supreme Court said no — the appellate court must decide on the evidence already on record

6 min read

Bank's ₹24.55 crore settlement fails to revive time-barred insolvency claim

Supreme Court says a written promise to pay a time-barred debt can create a fresh limitation period, but only if it meets strict conditions under the Contract Act.

4 min read

Can a handwriting expert's opinion alone prove forgery?

The Supreme Court says no—expert evidence is just opinion, never conclusive. A deeper look at the limits of forensic handwriting analysis.

7 min read

Can a secret tape recording be used as evidence in court?

The Supreme Court ruled that a tape-recorded conversation counts as a 'document' under the Evidence Act, making spontaneous chats admissible like written records.

6 min read

Charge-sheet served two days after court notice. Court still let him fly.

A Rajasthan High Court judge saw a charge-sheet served suspiciously close to a court notice and inferred mala fides, then granted conditional travel permission under Article 21.

4 min read

Cleared all tests, trained for 15 days — then rejected by a letter

A postal job candidate passed written, typing, computer tests and even started training. Then a general letter excluded him. The Supreme Court said: that's arbitrary.

5 min read

Coerced clauses in a will: Does the whole document collapse?

A court ruled that if only parts of a will were written under coercion, those clauses are struck down—but the rest of the will stands. Here's why.

8 min read

Collegium cleared 11 judges. Government sat on them. Court called it contempt.

A contempt petition in the Supreme Court reveals that keeping cleared names on hold is not neutral delay but a device that compels withdrawal and invites contempt notices against top bureaucrats.

3 min read

Company tried to skip 75% deposit. Supreme Court said no.

India Glycols challenged a Rs 40-lakh award via writ petition to avoid mandatory pre-deposit. The top court shut that door.

6 min read

COVID-19 extension applies even to commercial suit's 120-day deadline

Supreme Court says the pandemic limitation orders override the non-extendable period for filing a written statement in commercial cases.

6 min read

Delhi vs Centre: Can Parliament rewrite the Constitution through an ordinance?

The Supreme Court referred to a Constitution Bench the question whether Parliament's power to 'supplement' Article 239-AA allows it to strip Delhi's elected government of control over bureaucrats—just 8 days after a landmark verdict gave them that power.

7 min read

Election winner's age was questioned. Who had to prove it?

The Supreme Court ruled that while the election petitioner must initially prove disqualification, facts within the winner's special knowledge shift the burden onto them.

5 min read

He admitted it in court. The judge still said no decree.

A defendant's own written admission wasn't enough to end the case. The Supreme Court explains why a full trial was still needed.

7 min read

He proved the signature. The court said: that's not enough.

A party thought showing a witness recognised the handwriting was enough to prove what the document said. The Supreme Court disagreed — and explained why.

4 min read

He signed a deal to sell land, then sold it to others. The buyers sued. Then one buyer switched sides.

The Supreme Court says oral evidence can prove a written agreement was fake. But a registered deal still gives notice to later buyers.

6 min read

Highway widening doesn't give the state a free pass to demolish homes.

The Supreme Court found a demolition illegal without written notice or compensation, then laid down six mandatory steps for every road-widening project across India

4 min read

Judge catches witness lying? He must write it down — or risk appeal

A Bombay High Court ruling says that when a witness dodges questions, the judge can't just move on. He has to record their demeanor for the appellate court to see.

7 min read

Mother kept child in India after US surgery. Court's ruling on privacy shocks many.

Supreme Court says a writ court cannot force a parent to leave India with the child—that violates Article 21. But the child's welfare remains paramount.

6 min read

Mother kept son in India after US surgery. Supreme Court said: she can't be forced to go back.

The High Court ordered her to return to the US with the child or hand him over. The Supreme Court stepped in, saying a parent's right to privacy under Article 21 means no court can compel relocation.

6 min read

Not married, not of age – still entitled to life protection.

The Rajasthan High Court held that the right to life under Article 21 does not depend on marital status or marriageable age, rejecting the State's argument that a live-in couple below the legal age for marriage could be denied police protection.

6 min read

Presidential assent saved a state law. The Supreme Court says you can't compare it to the central Act.

A landowner challenged a state law that lacked central compensation safeguards, but the Supreme Court ruled that Presidential assent under Article 254(2) blocks any Article 14 comparison between different legislatures' enactments.

7 min read

Presumed constitutional, yet stayed: the farm laws' interim freeze.

The Supreme Court stayed three farm laws not because they were unconstitutional, but because the crisis they triggered required judicial intervention to protect fundamental rights and enable dialogue.

6 min read

She taught for years. Got zero marks. The Supreme Court said that was legal.

A guest lecturer lost marks for years of teaching because her pay fell short of a UGC threshold, and the Supreme Court ruled the High Court could not rewrite the regulation to save her.

6 min read

Smartphones aren't tablets, says Supreme Court. Tender authority knows best.

When a government body rejected a tablet bid because the OEM had only supplied smartphones, the Supreme Court held that the tender authority's interpretation of its own conditions must stand unless it is patently perverse.

3 min read

Speaker disqualified him. But the pension stayed — and the Court said why.

The Speaker disqualified four MLAs under the Tenth Schedule but also stripped their pensions, an act the Supreme Court ruled was beyond his constitutional authority.

5 min read

Suit filed in civil court, then transferred. Is 120-day deadline dead?

The Supreme Court says the strict deadline for filing written statements doesn't apply to suits moved from regular courts to commercial courts after the clock ran out.

6 min read

Supreme Court: Right to see hidden evidence exists even if states haven't adopted new rules

Two judges say the right to demand documents the prosecution isn't relying on is a constitutional right under Article 21, not dependent on formal adoption of Draft Rules.

7 min read

Tenant got land rights in 1982. Owner's family challenged it in 2002. Supreme Court says: too late.

The landowner's appeal was dismissed in 1989. His family waited 13 more years before filing a writ petition. The Supreme Court restored the delay dismissal, rejecting financial woes as an excuse.

6 min read

The 3-ratio test the Supreme Court uses to reject sweeping Article 32 petitions.

The Supreme Court declined to entertain a sweeping PIL against media trials, laying down three clear limits on Article 32 jurisdiction that every litigant must know.

4 min read

The Arnesh Kumar test: Why your arrest for a 7-year offence is now pandemic-proof.

The Supreme Court's second-wave order did more than release prisoners — it made the Arnesh Kumar guidelines a pandemic imperative that every criminal lawyer must know.

5 min read

The Article 21 test that now governs every hysterectomy under a government scheme.

The Supreme Court has made the MoHFW guidelines on unnecessary hysterectomies binding on every state, with blacklisting and criminal liability for non-compliance, targeting a violation that disproportionately affects Dalit, Adivasi, and backward community women.

5 min read

The Nalini Sunder rule: What you cannot plead directly, you cannot prove indirectly.

When a builder forfeits its right to file a written statement, it cannot smuggle its case in through written submissions — and a consumer forum cannot rewrite a contractual possession date just because the buyer failed to provide a payment schedule.

5 min read

The 'reasonable employer' test that saved a dismissal from judicial second-guessing.

The Supreme Court restates the narrow limits of judicial review over disciplinary punishment, holding that a court cannot substitute its own view of proportionality unless no reasonable employer would impose it.

6 min read

The State says it's reform. 30 petitions say it's a takeover of cooperatives.

Thirty writ petitions challenged the Kerala government's sweeping rewrite of the Co-operative Societies Act, forcing the High Court to decide how much State regulation can constitutionally intrude on cooperative autonomy

5 min read

They already won. The Supreme Court changed the law. They lost.

The Supreme Court revived settled acquisition cases after overruling its own precedent, carving an Article 142 exception to the merger doctrine that government authorities can now invoke.

7 min read

They didn't cite a single precedent. The court still rewrote the protection playbook.

A Division Bench in Nainital issued no landmark precedent, yet its administrative directive could save countless couples from filing writ petitions for basic safety.

4 min read

They sued to redeem a mortgage. Their own deeds were forged.

The court said written admissions can be secondary evidence — but only if the primary evidence isn't fake. Their case collapsed.

5 min read

This political leader saw a stitched auto driver and won a secret committee.

The Madras High Court found police enforcement adequate but ordered a secret committee to watch officers suspected of colluding with drug offenders, turning a routine PIL into a tool for institutional oversight.

4 min read

Two daughters, one DNA test, and a Supreme Court reversal.

The Supreme Court reversed a trial court order for DNA testing of two minor daughters, holding that paternity was collateral to the criminal charges and the direction violated the children's right to privacy under Article 21.

5 min read

When a will is suspicious, the person pushing it must clear the air

Privy Council says the rule applies even if the propounder didn't write or benefit from the will—any suspicious circumstance triggers a duty to prove it's genuine.

4 min read

When handwriting evidence fails: A key condition

The Supreme Court says a witness must be 'acquainted' with the person's writing. Insufficient familiarity means the evidence is discarded.

6 min read

When writing a will, can the main heir also be the one who set it up?

The court says yes—but that very fact can become a red flag that the will was not the testator's free choice.

5 min read

Why a bank's handwriting expert couldn't prove forgery

The court said expert opinion on handwriting is too fallible to stand alone—even when the expert seemed sure.

7 min read

Why one school's selective compassionate appointment violated Article 14.

A grant-in-aid minority school that once hired a male peon cannot hide behind Article 30 to deny another, the Bombay High Court rules in a case about a son's five-year wait for his father's job.

6 min read

Why the Supreme Court said a written deal is the final word — even if one party later changes their story

In a dispute over a written agreement, the Court laid down a rule that shuts the door on any outside evidence. The logic: letting in weaker proof when the best is available would 'nullify the law.'

6 min read

Why the Supreme Court said no right exists to receive foreign funds.

The Supreme Court upheld most of the 2020 FCRA amendments but read down the Aadhaar mandate for Indian nationals, showing that proportionality can salvage a partial win from a regulatory shutdown.

5 min read

You can't ambush the court with a defense you didn't plead

A defendant tried to raise new grounds at trial. The court said: if you didn't write it in your written statement, you can't argue it.

6 min read

You saw him sign? That's enough in court.

Supreme Court says a witness who watched someone write can prove handwriting — no expert needed.

6 min read

You topped the written exam. One mark in the interview cost you the judgeship.

The Supreme Court held that minimum marks in the viva voce are constitutional, even if the Shetty Commission recommended none, leaving candidates who excel on paper vulnerable to a single interview score.

7 min read

Your phone call is evidence. But only if you pass this test.

The Supreme Court laid down 4 strict conditions for admitting tape-recorded conversations. One of them: if the speaker denies it's his voice, you need 'very strict proof.'

5 min read