Case: Rohitash Kumar  Vs. Om Prakash Sharma

A. The appellants and contestant respondents are Assistant Commandants in the Border Security Force (hereinafter referred to as,The appellants and respondent nos. 4 and 5 are direct recruits, while respondent no.1 has been promoted against the quota of 10 per cent posts, that are reserved for Ministerial Cadre posts.B. The Union of India – respondent no.2, issued a seniority list dated 18.7.1995, placing respondent no. 1 at Serial No. 1863, below all the officers of Batch No.17 and thereafter, a final seniority list of Assistant Commandants was published on 5.7.1996.C. Respondent no.1 challenged the said seniority list in which he was ranked below the officers of Batch No. 17, by filing Writ Petition No. 1393 of 1999, on the ground that with effect from 15.3.1993, he stood promoted as Assistant Commandant, and that he had also completed all requisite training for the same at the B.S.F. Academy, Tekanpur, which had commenced on 1.2.1993. There was another batch that undertook training on 2.7.1993. However, the said officers of the second batch, who had joined such training on 2.7.1993, could not be ranked higher than him, in the seniority list.D. The said writ petition filed by respondent no.1, was contested by the Union of India. The learned single judge allowed the writ petition vide impugned judgment and order dated 27.7.2001, wherein it was held that respondent no.1/petitioner therein, was, in fact, entitled to be ranked in seniority above the officers of Batch No.17, and below the officers of Batch No.16.E. The Union of India challenged the aforementioned impugned judgment and order dated 27.7.2001, by filing a Letters Patent Appeal which was dismissed vide impugned judgment and order dated 1.8.2002.F. The appellants, though had not been impleaded as parties before the High Court, sought permission to file special leave petitions with respect to the said matter, and the same was granted by this Court.Hence, these appeals.

Reasoning:
7. This Court applied the rule of contemporanea expositio, as the Court found that the same is a well established rule of the interpretation of a statute, with reference to the exposition that it has received from contemporary authorities. However, while doing so, the Court added words of caution to the effect that such a rule must give way, where the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous., This Court applied the said rule of interpretation by holding that contemporanea expositio as expounded by administrative authorities, is a very useful and relevant guide to the interpretation of the expressions used in a statutory instrument. The words used in a statutory provision must be understood in the same way, in which they are usually understood, in ordinary common parlance with respect to the area in which, the said law is in force or, by the people who ordinarily deal with them.