This volume of the Supreme Court Cases (SCC), Part 5 of Volume 4, embodies landmark cases decided by the Supreme Court on issues like who is a workman, double taxation, insurance contract, pre-institution mediation, and more.
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 — Ss. 2(s), 2(j) and 25-F — “Workman” — Test to determine: Power of effective supervision, independent exercise of authority, power to issue commands, to have subordinate staff, etc., held, are determinative of supervisory/managerial role. However, incidental trapping of supervisory work, would not make employee “supervisor” since even in manual duties certain supervisory work would be in-built, which cannot be a ground to exclude employee from definition of “workman”, [Srinibas Goradia v. Arvind Kumar Sahu, (2026) 4 SCC 697]
Income Tax — Double Taxation/Double Taxation Relief — Indo-UAE Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) — Arts. 5(1) and 7: Taxability of income derived under Strategic Oversight Services Agreement (SOSA) by assessee, a tax resident of the UAE, inter alia rendering hotel consultancy and advisory services to hotels in India, determined, [Hyatt International Southwest Asia Ltd. v. CIT, (2026) 4 SCC 709]
Insurance — Contract of Insurance/Policy/Terms/Cover Note — Exemption/Exclusion/Restriction/Limitation/Forfeiture Clauses/Negative Covenants — Exclusion clause(s): Law clarified re manner in which specific and general exclusion clauses in the policy, to be construed, [Cement Corpn. of India v. ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd., (2026) 4 SCC 739]
Insurance — Payment of Claim or Repudiation of Claim/Termination/Remedies/Relief — Rescission/Repudiation of Insurance Claim/Policy/Breach of terms and conditions: Grantability of claim under insurance policy covering loss/damage to boiler, on account of blast/explosion in boiler, determined, [Kopargaon Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd. v. National Insurance Co. Ltd., (2026) 4 SCC 757]
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 — S. 18 — Declaration of sanctuary — Powers under provision and its applicability: S. 18, held, applies for declaring any area as wildlife sanctuary which is not comprised within any reserve forest or the territorial waters, [Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary, In re, (2026) 4 SCC 771]
Commercial Courts Act, 2015 — S. 12-A — Pre-institution mediation: Law regarding requirement of pre-institution mediation and when it may be dispensed with, summarised, [Novenco Building & Industry A/S v. Xero Energy Engg. Solutions (P) Ltd., (2026) 4 SCC 815]
