Statistics
The Supreme Court judgments that Indian courts cite most, counted
Which judgments do Indian courts actually cite? Counted across the 18 million judgments Pundora holds: 33 Supreme Court decisions, the number of judgments in which each is cited, and what the list says about the work the High Courts do.
The list
| # | Case, as Pundora's Supreme Court corpus holds it | Cited as | Judgments citing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gian Singh v. State of Punjab & Another 24 September 2012 · 2012 INSC 419 · (2012) 8 SCR 753 | (2012) 10 SCC 303 | 65,469 |
| 2 | Dataram Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr. 6 February 2018 · 2018 INSC 107 · (2018) 1 SCR 882 | (2018) 3 SCC 22 | 43,345 |
| 3 | Narinder Singh & Ors. v. State of Punjab & Anr. 27 March 2014 · 2014 INSC 217 · (2014) 4 SCR 1012 | (2014) 6 SCC 466 | 39,245 |
| 4 | Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar & Anr. 2 July 2014 · 2014 INSC 463 · (2014) 8 SCR 128 | (2014) 8 SCC 273 | 28,943 |
| 5 | Secretary, State of Karnataka and Ors. v. Umadevi and Ors. 10 April 2006 · 2006 INSC 216 · (2006) 3 SCR 953 | (2006) 4 SCC 1 | 22,396 |
| 6 | B.S. Joshi and Ors. v. State of Haryana and Anr. 13 March 2003 · 2003 INSC 179 · (2003) 2 SCR 1104 | (2003) 4 SCC 675 | 21,521 |
| 7 | Smt. Sarla Verma & Ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr. 15 April 2009 · 2009 INSC 506 · (2009) 5 SCR 1098 | (2009) 6 SCC 121 | 20,331 |
| 8 | Sanjay Chandra v. CBI 23 November 2011 · 2011 INSC 819 · (2011) 13 SCR 309 | (2012) 1 SCC 40 | 19,986 |
| 9 | National Insurance Company Limited v. Pranay Sethi and Ors. 31 October 2017 · 2017 INSC 1068 · (2017) 13 SCR 100 | (2017) 16 SCC 680 | 19,401 |
| 10 | Parbatbhai Aahir @ Parbatbhai Bhimsinhbhai Karmur and Ors. v. State of Gujarat and Anr. 4 October 2017 · 2017 INSC 1003 · (2017) 10 SCR 12 | (2017) 9 SCC 641 | 19,104 |
| 11 | R.P. Kapur v. The State of Punjab 25 March 1960 · 1960 INSC 61 · (1960) 3 SCR 388 | AIR 1960 SC 866 | 18,680 |
| 12 | Bhagwan Dass v. State (NCT) of Delhi 9 May 2011 · 2011 INSC 368 · (2011) 6 SCR 330 | (2011) 6 SCC 396 | 17,698 |
| 13 | Lata Singh v. State of U.P. and Anr. 7 July 2006 · 2006 INSC 407 · (2006) Supp 3 SCR 350 | (2006) 5 SCC 475 | 17,095 |
| 14 | Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr. 11 July 2022 · 2022 INSC 690 · (2022) 10 SCR 351 | (2022) 10 SCC 51 | 16,342 |
| 15 | Sunderbhai Ambalal Desai v. State of Gujarat 18 November 2002 · 2002 INSC 475 · (2002) Supp 4 SCR 217 | AIR 2003 SC 638 | 14,980 |
| 16 | Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre v. State of Maharashtra and Others 2 December 2010 · 2010 INSC 843 · (2010) 15 SCR 201 | (2011) 1 SCC 694 | 13,392 |
| 17 | Sushila Aggarwal and Others v. State (NCT of Delhi) and Another 29 January 2020 · 2020 INSC 106 · (2020) 2 SCR 1 | (2020) 5 SCC 1 | 10,998 |
| 18 | Madan Mohan Abbot v. State of Punjab 26 March 2008 · 2008 INSC 410 · (2008) 5 SCR 526 | (2008) 4 SCC 582 | 9,976 |
| 19 | State of Punjab and Others v. Rafiq Masih (White Washer) 18 December 2014 · 2014 INSC 479 · (2014) 13 SCR 1343 | (2015) 4 SCC 334 | 9,835 |
| 20 | Pushkar Mukherjee & Ors. v. The State of West Bengal 7 November 1968 · 1968 INSC 294 · (1969) 2 SCR 635 | AIR 1970 SC 852 | 9,740 |
| 21 | Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab 9 April 1980 · 1980 INSC 68 · (1980) 3 SCR 383 | (1980) 2 SCC 565 | 9,541 |
| 22 | Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of U.P. and Ors. 12 November 2013 · 2013 INSC 748 · (2013) 14 SCR 713 | (2014) 2 SCC 1 | 9,299 |
| 23 | Union of India & Ors. v. Tarsem Singh 13 August 2008 · 2008 INSC 930 · (2008) 12 SCR 104 | (2008) 8 SCC 648 | 9,283 |
| 24 | Manoj Sharma v. State & Ors. 16 October 2008 · 2008 INSC 1166 · (2008) 14 SCR 539 | (2008) 16 SCC 1 | 8,996 |
| 25 | Smt. Nagawwa v. Veeranna Shivalingappa Konjalgi & Ors. 23 April 1976 · 1976 INSC 125 · (1976) Supp 1 SCR 123 | (1976) 3 SCC 736 | 8,794 |
| 26 | M/s Celestium Financial v. A. Gnanasekaran 8 April 2025 · 2025 INSC 804 · (2025) 4 SCR 2612 | 2025 SCC OnLine SC 1320 | 8,747 |
| 27 | P.K. Shaji @ Thammanam Shaji v. State of Kerala 27 October 2005 · 2005 INSC 534 · (2005) Supp 4 SCR 840 | (2005) 13 SCC 283 | 7,690 |
| 28 | Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram alias Chuhru Ram & Ors. 18 September 2018 · 2018 INSC 828 · (2018) 11 SCR 664 | (2018) 18 SCC 130 | 7,512 |
| 29 | Nikhil Merchant v. Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr. 20 August 2008 · 2008 INSC 948 · (2008) 12 SCR 236 | (2008) 9 SCC 677 | 6,712 |
| 30 | Chandra Deo Singh v. Prokash Chandra Bose & Anr. 22 January 1963 · 1963 INSC 9 · (1964) 1 SCR 639 | AIR 1963 SC 1430 | 6,226 |
| 31 | Whirlpool Corporation v. Registrar of Trade Marks, Mumbai and Ors. 26 October 1998 · 1998 INSC 400 · (1998) Supp 2 SCR 359 | (1998) 8 SCC 1 | 5,873 |
| 32 | Prasanta Kumar Sarkar v. Ashis Chatterjee & Anr. 29 October 2010 · 2010 INSC 752 · (2010) 12 SCR 1165 | (2010) 14 SCC 496 | 5,771 |
| 33 | The State of Telangana v. Habib Abdullah Jeelani & Ors. 6 January 2017 · 2017 INSC 32 · (2017) 1 SCR 141 | (2017) 2 SCC 779 | 5,419 |
What the list shows
- The most-cited judgments are about procedure in criminal matters, not constitutional doctrine. 7 of the 33 are the line of authority on quashing criminal proceedings after the parties settle; 8 are on bail, anticipatory bail or arrest. The landmark constitutional cases that fill textbooks are far down a list ordered by what courts cite day to day.
- Motor accident compensation has its own canon. Sarla Verma, Pranay Sethi and Magma General Insurance are each cited in thousands of judgments, the arithmetic of compensation applied claim after claim.
- One citation dominates. Gian Singh is cited in 65,469 judgments, half as many again as the next.
- A 2025 judgment is already on the list. Celestium Financial, decided in April 2025, is cited in 8,747 judgments within eighteen months.
How this was counted, and what it does not show
- The count. Pundora has read every judgment it holds and recorded each citation written inside it (13.4 million in all). On 3 October 2026 those were grouped by citation, and each citation's count is the number of distinct judgments in which it appears.
- One reporter at a time. A judgment cited as (2012) 10 SCC 303 in one place and under another reporter elsewhere is counted here under the first only. Every figure is therefore a floor: the true number of judgments citing the case is higher.
- The names are confirmed, not assumed. The name written beside a citation in a judgment is often abbreviated or wrong. Each case named here was found in Pundora's Supreme Court corpus by both parties' names within the years the report could cover; the date and the neutral and Supreme Court Reports citations are that record's. Citations whose case could not be confirmed that way are left out, among them several that would otherwise rank (a citation for State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, and one for Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India).
- High Court judgments cited by High Courts are not in this table. Several Allahabad and Patna High Court decisions are cited tens of thousands of times within their own courts; this page lists Supreme Court judgments only.
- The corpus is what the courts publish electronically: recent decades are far better covered than earlier ones, and the High Courts that upload the most orders weigh the most. The subject labels beside the list are the writer's short description, not the court's.
Questions advocates ask
Which is the most cited Supreme Court judgment in India?
By the number of judgments citing it in the 18 million Pundora holds, counted on 3 October 2026: Gian Singh v. State of Punjab, (2012) 10 SCC 303, cited in 65,469 judgments, followed by Dataram Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (43,345) and Narinder Singh v. State of Punjab (39,245). The count is by one reporter citation each, so each figure is a floor.
Why are quashing and bail cases cited more than constitutional landmarks?
Because the list counts what courts cite in the judgments they write every day. Petitions to quash criminal proceedings after a settlement and applications for bail are among the commonest matters before the High Courts, and each order cites the same few authorities.
How was this counted?
Every citation written inside every judgment Pundora holds was recorded; they were grouped by citation, counting distinct judgments. Each named case was then confirmed in Pundora's Supreme Court corpus by its parties and year.