Case: Rainbow Steels Ltd. Muzaffarnagar and Vs. C.S.T., U.P. and State of U.P

Mazdoor Sabha &Ors. and The Corporation of the City of Nagpur v. Its Employees this Court refused to apply the said principle while construing the definition of `industry given in s.2(j) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and in s.2(14) of the C.P. and Berar Industrial Disputes Settlement Act, 1947 respectively, and that in Letang v. Cooper Diplock, L. J., has observed thus:"The maxim noscitur a sociis is always a treacherous one unless you know the societas to whic h the socii belong." According to him further the ejusdem generis principle would be clearly inapplicable inasmuch as it was not a case where some general words follow any particular, generic or specific words. 7. Having given our anxious consideration to the rival contentions urged before us, we are clearly of the view that the principle of noscitur a sociis is clearly applicable to the construction of the expression `old occurring in Entry No. 15, and that expression will have to be give a restricted meaning-a sense analogous to that of the less general words clubbed with it. The principle is explained in Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes (12th Edn.) at page 289 thus:"Where two or more words which are susceptible of analogous meaning are coupled together, noscitur a sociis, they are understood to be used in their cognate sense. They take, as it were, their colour from each other, the meaning of the more general being restricted to a sense analogous to that of the less general." 8. Moreover, even in the two decisions relied upon by counsel for the respondents where this Court refused to apply the principle of noscitur a sociis while construing the definition of `industry in the two concerned enactments because the Legislature had deliberately used wider words in order to make the scope of defined word correspondingly wider, the Court has observed that:"it is only when the intention of the Legislature in associating wider words with words of narrower significance is doubtful or is otherwise not clear that the present rule of construction can be usefully applied." In other words if the wider words used are in themselves vague, imprecise or ambiguous and there is no indication that these have been deliberately used to infuse wider meaning then this rule of construction can be invoked. 9. Dealing with the Entry in question, in the first place it cannot be disputed that the four adjectives which are susceptible to analogous meaning are clubbed together while qualifying `machinery in the Entry. Secondly, it cannot be disputed that the first adjective `old is clearly more general than the other three a nd as such all the four would take their colour from each other, the meaning of the more general adjective `old being restricted to a sense analogous to that of the less general, namely, "discarded, unserviceable or obsolete". Thirdly, it is true that all the four adjectives which qualify the word `machinery have been used disjunctively but it is precisely for that reason that the adjective `old becomes vague, imprecise and ambiguous, being too general. The adjective `old by itself is certainly vague, imprecise and ambiguous, for there is no indication as to how much old the machinery should be before it could be described as old machinery. A machinery could be one day old, one month old, one year old, five years old o r even ten years old, (the degree of oldness being a relative concept) and which one is intended to be included in the Entry has not been made clear at all. And, lastly, there is nothing in the Entry to indicate that the adjective `old has been deliberately used in a wider sense. In the absence of any indication to that effect and when the expression `old is by itself vague, imprecise, and ambiguous, being too general, the principle of noscitur a sociis will have to be applied i.e. all the associated words will take colour from each other, the meaning of the more general, adjective viz. `old being restricted to a sense analogous to the less general adjectives "discarded, unserviceable or obsolete". In other words in order to fall within the expression `old machinery occurring in the Entry, the machinery must be old machinery in the sense that it has become nonfunctional or non-usable. In our view, therefore, on true construction the sale of the Thermal Power Plant which at the time of sale by appellant No. 1 to appellant No. 2 was in perfect running condition and which was sold as such would not fall within the aforesaid Entry No. 15 of the concerned Notification dated May 30, 1975. 10. The English decision of the Court of Appeal in Letang v. Cooper (supra) relied upon by counsel for the respondents is clearly distinguishable inasmuch as it dealt with a statute which referred to "negligence, nuisance or breach of duty (whether the duty exist s by virtue of a contract or of provision made by or under a statute or independently of any contract or any such provision), " and when it was argued that because the cause of action in both nuisance and negligence included the infliction of actual damage as an essential element, "breach of duty" should also be understood as confined to causes of action in which actual damage was likewise essential the said contention was rejected by Diplock, L.J., by observing thus:"It is clear, however, that `breach of duty cannot be restricted to those giving rise to causes of action in which the infliction of actual damage is an essential element, for the words in parentheses expressly ext end to a duty which exists by virtue of a contract and the infliction of actual damage is not an essential element in an action for breach of contractual duty." 11. In other words, it was a case of a statute where the parent hetical portion occurring therein expressly indicated the contrary intention-contrary to the contention urged and, therefore, the principle of noscitur a sociis was not applied. 12.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]Having given our anxious consideration to the rival contentions urged before us, we are clearly of the view that the principle of noscitur a sociis is clearly applicable to the construction of the expression `old occurring in Entry No. 15, and that expression will have to be give a restricted meaning-a sense analogous to that of the less general words clubbed with itDealing with the Entry in question, in the first place it cannot be disputed that the four adjectives which are susceptible to analogous meaning are clubbed together while qualifying `machinery in the Entry. Secondly, it cannot be disputed that the first adjective `old is clearly more general than the other three a nd as such all the four would take their colour from each other, the meaning of the more general adjective `old being restricted to a sense analogous to that of the less general, namely, "discarded, unserviceable or obsolete". Thirdly, it is true that all the four adjectives which qualify the word `machinery have been used disjunctively but it is precisely for that reason that the adjective `old becomes vague, imprecise and ambiguous, being too general. The adjective `old by itself is certainly vague, imprecise and ambiguous, for there is no indication as to how much old the machinery should be before it could be described as old machinery. A machinery could be one day old, one month old, one year old, five years old o r even ten years old, (the degree of oldness being a relative concept) and which one is intended to be included in the Entry has not been made clear at all. And, lastly, there is nothing in the Entry to indicate that the adjective `old has been deliberately used in a wider sense. In the absence of any indication to that effect and when the expression `old is by itself vague, imprecise, and ambiguous, being too general, the principle of noscitur a sociis will have to be applied i.e. all the associated words will take colour from each other, the meaning of the more general, adjective viz. `old being restricted to a sense analogous to the less general adjectives "discarded, unserviceable or obsolete". In other words in order to fall within the expression `old machinery occurring in the Entry, the machinery must be old machinery in the sense that it has become nonfunctional or non-usable. In our view, therefore, on true construction the sale of the Thermal Power Plant which at the time of sale by appellant No. 1 to appellant No. 2 was in perfect running condition and which was sold as such would not fall within the aforesaid Entry No. 15 of the concerned Notification dated May 30,e English decision of the Court of Appeal in Letang v. Cooper (supra) relied upon by counsel for the respondents is clearly distinguishable inasmuch as it dealt with a statute which referred to "negligence, nuisance or breach of duty (whether the duty exist s by virtue of a contract or of provision made by or under a statute or independently of any contract or any such provision), " and when it was argued that because the cause of action in both nuisance and negligence included the infliction of actual damage as an essential element, "breach of duty" should also be understood as confined to causes of action in which actual damage was likewise essential the said contention was rejected by Diplock, L.J., by observing thus:In other words, it was a case of a statute where the parent hetical portion occurring therein expressly indicated the contrary intention-contrary to the contention urged and, therefore, the principle of noscitur a sociis was not applied.