Landmark Judgments

397 Supreme Court judgments from 1950 to 2026, chosen from the cases our judiciary, CLAT and AIBE questions cite most. Each digest gives the facts, the questions before the Court, what it held and passages in the Court's own words, with a link to the official judgment.

Judgments: 397
Constitution Benches: 137
Subjects: 24

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Subject

Decided in

BenchAct interpretedMy listOverruled or explained by a later case here

152 of 397 judgments

Mulla Afroz v. Union of India2026Constitutional Law2 judges
A confession to the police cannot by itself ground preventive detention; the NSA detention, resting on an involuntary confession and undisclosed material and aimed at…
Balaji Formalin Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India2026Constitutional Law2 judges
Rules 18A and 18B of the Maharashtra Poisons Rules, 1972, which restricted methanol purchase to Form A licensees, required a bitterant and colourant before sale and…
Madras Bar Association v. Union of India2025Constitutional Law2 judges
The Court struck down the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 provisions on minimum age, tenure, the two-name panel and allowances as re-enactments of provisions struck down in…
Rejanish K.V. v. K. Deepa2025Constitutional Law5-judge bench
Judicial officers with a combined seven years as advocate and judicial officer may compete for direct recruitment as District Judges under Article 233; Satya Narain…
All India Judges Association v. Union of India2025Constitutional Law3 judges
The Court restored the minimum three years' practice for Civil Judge (Junior Division), counted from provisional enrolment, raised the LDCE quota for District Judges to…
State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu2025Constitutional Law2 judges
The Governor's reservation for the President of ten Bills re-passed by the Tamil Nadu legislature was illegal; the Court held that Article 200 allows no pocket or…
State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh2024Constitutional Law7-judge bench
The State may sub-classify the Scheduled Castes for reservation under Articles 15(4) and 16(4) on a rational principle supported by data on inadequate representation;…
Mineral Area Development Authority v. Steel Authority of India2024Constitutional Law9-judge bench
Royalty under Section 9 of the MMDR Act is not a tax; States can tax mineral rights under Entry 50 and mineral-bearing land under Entry 49 of List II, and the MMDR Act…
Kolkata Municipal Corporation v. Bimal Kumar Shah2024Constitutional Law2 judges
Section 352 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980 confers no power of compulsory acquisition; under Article 300A a valid acquisition needs fair procedure, and…
Sita Soren v. Union of India2024Constitutional Law7-judge bench
A member of Parliament or a State Legislature cannot claim immunity under Articles 105(2) or 194(2) from prosecution for bribery in connection with a vote or speech; the…
Supriyo @ Supriya Chakraborty v. Union of India2023Constitutional Law5-judge bench
The Court unanimously held there is no fundamental right to marry and declined to read the Special Marriage Act to include same-sex couples; by majority it declined to…
S.G. Vombatkere v. Union of India2023Constitutional Law3 judges
In this order, not a final judgment, a three Judge Bench refused to defer the challenge to Section 124A IPC and directed the papers to be placed before the Chief Justice…
Subhash Desai v. Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra2023Constitutional Law5-judge bench
The Constitution Bench held that the political party, not the legislature party, appoints the Whip, that the Governor wrongly called a floor test without objective…
Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India2022Constitutional Law5-judge bench
By a 3:2 majority, the Constitution Bench upheld the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, which enables up to ten per cent. reservation for…
Union of India v. Mohit Minerals Pvt. Ltd.2022Constitutional Law3 judges
GST Council recommendations are persuasive and do not bind Parliament and State legislatures; IGST on ocean freight levied on importers under CIF contracts violates the…
Manohar Lal Sharma v. Union of India2021Constitutional Law3 judges
Finding a prima facie case on the alleged use of Pegasus spyware against Indian citizens, and rejecting the Union's bare plea of national security, the Court appointed…
Union of India v. Rajendra N. Shah2021Constitutional Law3 judges
Part IXB, inserted by the Constitution 97th Amendment, needed ratification by half the States because it significantly curtailed the States' exclusive power over…
Vikash Kumar v. Union Public Service Commission2021Constitutional Law3 judges
A person with disability under Section 2(s) of the RPwD Act, 2016 who needs a scribe cannot be denied one for not having a 40% benchmark disability; the appellant was…
Keisham Meghachandra Singh v. Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly2020Constitutional Law3 judges
A Speaker deciding disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule must do so within a reasonable time, ordinarily three months; courts may review inaction, and the…
Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India2020Constitutional Law3 judges
Speech and trade over the internet are protected by Article 19(1)(a) and (g); internet suspension and Section 144 CrPC orders must be published, proportionate, temporary…

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How these pages are written

Every digest is written from the judgment itself, taken from the Supreme Court's own website (sci.gov.in), and links to that file.
Quoted passages are copied from the official text and were checked against it word for word; each gives the page of the PDF.
Where the bench split, the holdings given are the majority's. Where a later judgment in this library overrules or explains a case, that case's page says so, quoting the later Court's words.
A digest is a study aid. Read the judgment before citing it.

Test yourself

170 practice questions on landmark judgments, with explanations.

All 397 judgments, A to Z