India's Supreme Court voids tribunal rulings that cited fake AI cases

India's National Company Law Tribunal admitted an insolvency case against Essel Infraprojects in 2024, over a default of ₹87.43 crore. Its order relied on six precedents that were either nonexistent or did not say what was claimed. An affidavit said the citations were AI-generated and appeared in no recognized legal database. The bank's lawyers swore they never cited them, which pointed to the tribunal's own research. The appeals tribunal upheld the order in 2025 without catching the problem. On July 2, 2026, the Supreme Court set aside both rulings and sent the case back for a fresh decision. It called for zero tolerance toward unverified AI precedents and asked the Bar Council of India to set rules and penalties for lawyers.