If Legal Assistance Is Inadequate, Constitutional Courts Must Ensure Quality Aid To Litigants : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has disapproved of dismissing appeals on technical grounds like the absence of a delay condonation application when the litigant was not having proper legal assistance. It is the duty of the Courts to ensure quality legal assistance to the litigants.“True that the appeal should have been accompanied with an application for condonation of delay, but the Constitutional Courts should also be alive to the travails of a litigant and if the legal assistance is not adequate, it has a...

LiveLaw Supreme Court Half-Yearly Digest 2026 - Service Law

Service Law - Supreme Court Half Yearly Digest Jan - Jun, 2026 Accelerated Promotion – Counter-Extremism/Naxal Activities – Parity in Treatment – Judicial Review of Committee Decisions – The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's direction to grant accelerated promotion to a police constable (Respondent) who resisted a Naxalite attack on a police station - The State had...

If Prosecution Fails To Examine Crucial Witness, Trial Court Must Question It : Supreme Court

The trial court cannot be a moot spectator during the trial and must actively participate to ensure that the best evidence is not suppressed, the Court said.

Supreme Court Daily Round-Up : August 31, 2026

Links to reports of August 31 :Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Seeking Disclosure Of Ethanol Percentage In Petrol Pump Nozzles & BillsSupreme Court Stays FIR Against Gym Owner 'Mohammed' Deepak Over Bajrang Dal ConfrontationGoa Nightclub Fire: Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Bombay High Court's Cancellation Of Owners' BailSupreme Court Refuses To Stop CJP's September...

Informant's Consent Not Needed To Quash Criminal Case Based On Settlement With Victim : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday (August 31) held that even where an FIR involves non-compoundable offences, criminal proceedings may be quashed on the basis of a settlement once the real victim has categorically settled the dispute with the accused, and the consent of an informant who is not the victim is not necessary. “Disastrous consequences will arise if such informants (who are not victims) are allowed to enter into settlement and the real victim is left in limbo. Hence, what law contemplates...

Art. 226 | Certiorari Can Be Used To Quash Tribunal Decision Which Is Grossly Perverse : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday (August 31) held that High Courts, while exercising their certiorari writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, can interfere with a Tribunal's order where the findings are unsupported by any material or documentary evidence. “If a finding is recorded without there being any evidence on record or a finding is recorded without any supporting document, whatsoever, a case for interference would be made out since such finding would amount to an error of...

NCRDC Third Member Deciding Appeal Instead Of Answering Reference Not Necessarily Illegal : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has clarified the limits of a third or “referee” member's role when members of a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) Bench differ, holding that although the normal course is for the referee member to answer only the questions referred and return the matter to the original Bench, an exceptional case may justify deciding the appeal itself.Where a referring Bench, instead of specifying the precise points of difference under Section 58(3) of the Consumer...

Multiple Cases Per Se Not Ground To Pass Externment Order : Supreme Court

Externment is an extraordinary measure which cannot be ordered routinely, the Court said.

High Courts Shouldn't Routinely Stay Trials : Supreme Court Flags Mechanical Invocation Of Revision Powers

The Supreme Court has disapproved the routine practice of High Courts staying trials while entertaining challenges to interlocutory orders, cautioning that such stays should be granted only where continuation of the trial would seriously and irreparably prejudice the revision proceedings or adversely affect the parties.also flagged the mechanical invocation of revisional jurisdiction under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), holding that the High Court cannot exercise revision as...

Family Court Judges Not Eligible For High Court Elevation : Supreme Court Refuses To Revisit Precedent

The Court also questioned the need to have separate cadre for Family Court Judges in States like Maharashtra.

Stamp Duty Valuation Based On Nature Of Land's Use & Not Its Classification In Master Plan : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently held that the classification of a property under a master plan is not determinative of stamp duty liability, as the actual use of the property is the relevant consideration while determining its valuation. A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran set aside the Rajasthan High Court's judgment, which had classified the property as commercial...

Govt Cannot Resort To Summary Eviction When Bona Fide Title Dispute Exists : Supreme Court

"The long possession itself restrains this Court from accepting any summary proceedings for eviction," the judgment stated.