TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (2) TMI 1052
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....50 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 of her appointment, college authorities took her signature on a resignation letter without mentioning any date and that might have been used to remove her from the college. The University on receipt of the said represe....
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.... 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 directed that the 5th respondent may be reinstated. It was also directed that approval granted in respect of the service of 3rd and 4th respondent be frozen. A reply was sent by the 1st respondent to the order of the appellant....
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....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 amongst themselves - Members (c) The Registrar - Member Secretary (4) The Registrar shall not have a right to vote." 17. Construing the aforesaid two Sections, the High....
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.... 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 restricted by implication with the meaning of restricted words. This is a principle which arises "from the linguistic implication by which words having literally a wide meaning (....
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....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 subjects of the enumeration constitute a class or category; (iii) that class or category is not exhausted by ....
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....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 by the wider view in order that the will of the Legislature shall not ....