TMI Blog2008 (9) TMI 964X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... completion of MBBS course, the students in question shall serve the nation by working in the Armed Force for a specific period of time. Clause 4 of the agreement dealt with a situation when a cadet shall be declared to have become Non Service Liability (in short `NSL') in the event of any of the three categories. It is provided that in such event Clauses 5 and 6 will be applicable. However, he or she can be permitted at the discretion of DGAFMS to continue her studies on payment of normal tuition fee at the rate in force at the time but the students have to move out of the hostel premises. Clause 5 of the agreement states that in the event of a student being removed from the service liability for any reason, shall be liable to pay the amount calculated at a particular rate per annum from the date of admission to the College till the date of NSL subject to maximum together with interest on the said amount at rates in force then. Clause 6 provided that student who is removed from service liability under Clause 4(a) shall be required to pay in cash an amount calculated at the rate of rupees one and a half lakh per year or part thereof from the date of admission to the college til ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ll be removed from the hostel premises. Provided that the student under Clause (a) above may be allowed to continue his/her stay in the hostel on payment of the normal expenses of education including tuition fees and fees for boarding and lodging facilities as applicable from time to time if he/she has contracted the disease/disability in the circumstances over which he/she has no control on which the decision of the DGAFMS shall be final and for which he/she has not refused treatment and further in such eventuality he/she may not be required to refund any amount to the Govt. as specified in clause 6 below. 5. In the event of any contingency in clauses 1,2,3 and 4 above, except in clause 4(a), the party of the FIRST part shall jointly and severally be liable to pay forthwith to the Govt. in cash an amount calculated at the rate of rupees three lacs per year or part thereof; for the period from the date or admission to the college to the date of becoming a Non Service Liability or removal from the college rolls, limited to a maximum limit or Rupees Fifteen lacs together with interest on the said money, calculated at the rates in force then. The interest will be levied if the p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to bring the case under Clause (6). The same has to be tested in the background of proviso to Clause 4(a). 12. The normal function of a proviso is to except something out of the enactment or to qualify something enacted therein which but for the proviso would be within the purview of the enactment. As was stated in Mullins v. Treasurer of Survey [1880 (5) QBD 170, (referred to in Shah Bhojraj Kuverji Oil Mills and Ginning Factory v. Subhash Chandra Yograj Sinha (AIR 1961 SC 1596) and Calcutta Tramways Co. Ltd. v. Corporation of Calcutta (AIR 1965 SC 1728); when one finds a proviso to a section the natural presumption is that, but for the proviso, the enacting part of the section would have included the subject matter of the proviso. The proper function of a proviso is to except and to deal with a case which would otherwise fall within the general language of the main enactment and its effect is confined to that case. It is a qualification of the preceding enactment which is expressed in terms too general to be quite accurate. As a general rule, a proviso is added to an enactment to qualify or create an exception to what is in the enactment and ordinarily, a proviso is not int ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ols that stimulate mental references to referents. The object of interpreting a statute is to ascertain the intention of the Legislature enacting it. (See Institute of Chartered Accountants of India v. M/s Price Waterhouse and Anr. (AIR 1998 SC 74)) The intention of the Legislature is primarily to be gathered from the language used, which means that attention should be paid to what has been said as also to what has not been said. As a consequence, a construction which requires for its support, addition or substitution of words or which results in rejection of words as meaningless has to be avoided. As observed in Crawford v. Spooner (1846 (6) Moore PC 1), Courts, cannot aid the Legislatures' defective phrasing of an Act, we cannot add or mend, and by construction make up deficiencies which are left there. (See The State of Gujarat and Ors. v. Dilipbhai Nathjibhai Patel and Anr. (JT 1998 (2) SC 253)). It is contrary to all rules of construction to read words into an Act unless it is absolutely necessary to do so. (See Stock v. Frank Jones (Tiptan) Ltd. (1978 1 All ER 948 (HL). Rules of interpretation do not permit Courts to do so, unless the provision as it stands is meaningless ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... construction of a particular clause leads to manifestly absurd or anomalous results which could not have been intended by the Legislature. An intention to produce an unreasonable result , said Danackwerts, L.J. in Artemiou v. Procopiou (1966 1 QB 878), is not to be imputed to a statute if there is some other construction available . Where to apply words literally would defeat the obvious intention of the legislature and produce a wholly unreasonable result we must do some violence to the words and so achieve that obvious intention and produce a rational construction. (Per Lord Reid in Luke v. IRC (1966 AC 557) where at p. 577 he also observed: this is not a new problem, though our standard of drafting is such that it rarely emerges . 25. It is then true that, when the words of a law extend not to an inconvenience rarely happening, but due to those which often happen, it is good reason not to strain the words further than they reach, by saying it is cases omissus, and that the law intended quae frequent accident. But, on the other hand, it is no reason, when the words of a law do enough extend to an inconvenience seldom happening, that they should not extend to it as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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