TMI Blog2010 (2) TMI 1052X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t and the 3rd appellant is the Management Council of the appellant No.1 and also constituted under the said Act. 4. The 1st respondent in this appeal is a public trust registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950 and the said trust runs several colleges including the 2nd respondent. The 3rd respondent is the Principal of the said college and the 4th respondent is a Lecturer therein. Both the 5th and 6th respondents were appointed Lecturers in the said college but their appointments were not approved but they continued to work as lecturers in the said college. 5. On 7.8.05 a representation was made by the 5th respondent to the effect that after she had served the said college for the last three and a half year suddenly she was informed on 6.8.05 that the college authorities accepted her resignation. That was shocking to her since the 5th respondent could never resign as she had several liabilities and had no other income. The education of her two children had to be looked after while her husband was disabled in view of an accident and her father-in-law was a retired person. In her representation to the Vice Chancellor of the appellant-University she stated that at the time ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cipal of the college was also granted anticipatory bail on 06.02.06 and which order was subsequently confirmed on 23.02.06. 9. Then on 18.02.06, the services of the 6th respondent were terminated by the said college. 10. In view of the complaint of the 6th respondent, the University called the 1st, 2nd and 4th respondents for hearing on 08.03.06 before the Grievance Committee and on 04.03.06 the 6th respondent sent a complaint to the appellant- University seeking action against the respondents. In that complaint the 6th respondent gave details of ill-treatment and sexual harassment which she and other lady lecturers and employees of the college including the 5th respondent were subjected to by the authorities of the said college. In view of such complaints, the Grievance Committee of the University met on 8th March, 2006 to consider the issues in the light of complaints received by the 6th respondent against the college authorities. Pursuant to the meeting of the Grievance Committee, the University by its communication dated 21st March, 2006 directed the 1st and 2nd respondents to take steps against the 3rd and 4th respondents with a direction to suspend them and it was also di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2(35) of the said Act runs as under:- 2(35) teachers means full time approved Demonstrators, Tutors, Assistant Lecturers, Lecturers, Readers, Associate Professors, Professors and other persons teaching or giving instructions on full time basis in affiliated colleges or approved institutions in the university; 16. Section 53 of the said Act provides as follows: 53. (1) There shall be a Grievances Committee in the University to deal with the grievances of teachers and other employees of the University, Colleges, institutions and recognised institutions and to hear and settle grievances as far as may be practicable within six months, and the committee shall make a report to the Management Council. (2) It shall be lawful for the Grievances Committee to entertain and consider grievances or complaints and report to the Management Council for taking such action as it deems fit and the decisions of the Management Council on such report shall be final. (3) The Grievances Committee shall consist of the following members, namely: (a) The Pro-Vice Chancellor, - Chairperson (b) Four members of the management council nominated by the Management Council from amongs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with the definition of teacher under Section 2(35) of the Act. The word `and' before `other persons' is disjunctive and indicate a different class of people. 23. A class is a conceptual creation taking within its fold numerous categories of persons with similar characteristics. Here in the group of `other persons' fall those who, on full time basis, are teaching or giving instructions in colleges affiliated with the University and they are also teachers even if they are unapproved. This seems to be the purport of Section 2(35) of the Act. 24. It cannot be disputed that 5th and 6th respondent were engaged in teaching on full time basis in the respondent college, which is an affiliated college of the appellant-University. 25. This Court is constrained to observe that the Hon'ble High Court has not properly appreciated the principle of ejusdem generis in understanding the scope of Section 2(35) read with Section 53 of the Act. 26. The Latin expression ejusdem generis which means of the same kind or nature is a principle of construction, meaning thereby when general words in a statutory text are flanked by restricted words, the meaning of the general words are taken to be r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 60 SC 1080]. A Constitution Bench of this Court in Kochuni (supra) speaking through Justice Subba Rao (as His Lordship then was) at paragraph 50 at page 1103 of the report opined:- ...The rule is that when general words follow particular and specific words of the same nature, the general words must be confined to the things of the same kind as those specified. But it is clearly laid down by decided cases that the specific words must form a distinct genus or category. It is not an inviolable rule of law, but is only permissible inference in the absence of an indication to the contrary. (Emphasis supplied) 31. Again this Court in another Constitution Bench decision in the case of Amar Chandra Chakraborty v. The Collector of Excise, Govt. of Tripura, Agartala and others, AIR 1972 SC 1863, speaking through Justice Dua, reiterated the same principles in paragraph 9, at page 1868 of the report. On the principle of ejusdem generis, the learned Judge observed as follows:- ...The ejusdem generis rule strives to reconcile the incompatibility between specific and general words. This doctrine applies when (i) the statute contains an enumeration of specific words; (ii) the subje ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ind of harassment which they might receive in their work place. The creation of such a forum is in tune with protecting the `dignity of the individual' which is one of the core constitutional concepts. 37. Therefore, the doctrine of ejusdem generis cannot be pressed into service to defeat this dominant statutory purpose. In this context we may usefully recall the observations of the Supreme Court of United States in Guy T. Helvering v. Stockholms Enskilda Bank, 293 US 84, 88-89, 79 L Ed 211, 55 S Ct 50, 52 (1934), as under:- while the rule is a well-established and useful one, it is, like other canons of statutory construction, only an aid to the ascertainment of the true meaning of the statute. It is neither final nor exclusive. To ascertain the meaning of the words of a statute, they may be submitted to the test of all appropriate canons of statutory construction, of which the rule of ejusdem generis is only one. If, upon a consideration of the context and the objects sought to be attained and of the act as a whole, it adequately appears that the general words were not used in the restricted sense suggested by the rule, we must give effect to the conclusion afforded ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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