Published on: 02 November 2022 at 10:38 IST
Court – Supreme Court of India
Citation – State of West Bengal v/s Anindya Sundar Das (2022)
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has held that a statute must be read to avoid a construction which would make certain provisions or terms meaningless or redundant. It is held that an effort must be made to read the provisions of the statute in a holistic manner so as to imbue it with meaning and content.
Para – 47
It is a settled principle of law that a statute must be read to avoid a construction which would make certain provisions or terms meaningless or redundant. In Union of India v. Hansoli Devi, a Constitution Bench of this Court reiterated the dictum in the decision of the Constitution Bench in Aswini Kumar Ghose v. Arabinda Bose, that “it is not a sound principle of construction to brush aside words in a statute as being inapposite surplusage, if they can have appropriate application in circumstances conceivably within the contemplation of the statute.”
The Court in Hansoli Devi reiterated the decision of the Privy Council in Quebec Railway, Light Heat & Power Co. Ltd. v. Vandry observing that the “legislature is deemed not to waste its words or to say anything in vain and a construction which attributes redundancy to the legislature will not be accepted except for compelling reasons.”
An effort must be made to read the provisions of the statute in a holistic manner so as to imbue it with meaning and content.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra