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

17 of 397 judgments

Shakeel Ahmed v. Syed Akhlaq Hussain2023Property Law2 judges
No title to immovable property passes under an unregistered agreement to sell or general power of attorney, so a suit for possession and mesne profits founded on such…
Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal2020Property Law5-judge bench
Under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, an acquisition lapses only if neither possession was taken nor compensation paid; tender of compensation is…
Ram Krishan Grover v. Union of India2019Property Law3 judges
Section 13-B of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, giving Non-Resident Indian landlords a summary right to recover possession, and its extension to…
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. v. Dilbahar Singh2014Property Law5-judge bench
Revisional power of the High Court under the Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala Rent Control Acts does not allow it to re-appreciate evidence and reverse findings of fact…
Pune Municipal Corporation v. Harakchand Misirimal Solanki2014Property Law3 judgesLater case in library
Compensation is 'paid' under Section 24(2) of the 2013 Act only if it is offered and, where a Section 31(2) contingency prevents payment, deposited in the reference…
Thomson Press (India) Ltd. v. Nanak Builders and Investors Pvt. Ltd.2013Property Law2 judges
A purchaser who bought the suit property during a specific performance suit, with notice of the prior agreement and in breach of a restraint order, was not a bona fide…
Suraj Lamp and Industries (P) Ltd. v. State of Haryana2011Property Law3 judgesLater case in library
Sale Agreement/General Power of Attorney/Will (GPA sale) transactions do not convey title or create any interest in immovable property; immovable property can be…
Ashok Kumar v. Ved Prakash2009Property Law2 judges
A landlord may seek eviction of a tenant from a non-residential building on the ground of bona fide requirement under Section 13 of the Haryana Urban (Control of Rent…
Leelabai Gajanan Pansare v. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd.2008Property Law2 judges
The Court held that Government companies under Section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 are 'public sector undertakings' under Section 3(1)(b) of the Maharashtra Rent…
Satyawati Sharma v. Union of India2008Property Law2 judges
Section 14(1)(e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 violates Article 14 insofar as it allows eviction for the landlord's bona fide need only from premises let for…
Rame Gowda v. M. Varadappa Naidu2003Property Law3 judges
A person in settled possession of land, even without proving title, can obtain an injunction against a defendant who also fails to prove title; even the true owner must…
Shrimant Shamrao Suryavanshi v. Pralhad Bhairoba Suryavanshi2002Property Law2 judges
A transferee in possession under part performance can defend that possession under Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act even though a suit for specific…
Anthony v. K.C. Ittoop and Sons2000Property Law3 judges
An unregistered five-year lease deed cannot create a lease, but a tenant put in possession on monthly rent holds a lease of up to one year under Section 107 TPA and is…
S. Sundaram Pillai v. V.R. Pattabiraman1985Property Law3 judges
The Explanation to the proviso to Section 10(2) of the Tamil Nadu Rent Control Act does not exhaust 'wilful default': without notice the Controller decides wilfulness on…
Kale v. Deputy Director of Consolidation1976Property Law3 judges
An oral family arrangement needs no registration, and a later petition merely informing the revenue court of it for mutation is not compulsorily registrable; the…
Nathulal v. Phoolchand1969Property Law2 judges
A purchaser in possession under a written agreement of sale could resist the vendor's suit for possession under Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, being…
Associated Hotels of India Ltd. v. R.N. Kapoor1959Property Law3 judges
By majority, two cloak rooms in the Imperial Hotel let to a hair-dresser were 'rooms in a hotel' excluded from the Delhi and Ajmer-Merwara Rent Control Act, 1947, so no…

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