LexDR. RAJBIR SINGH DALAL versus CHAUDHARI DEVI LAL UNIVERSITY, SIRSA & ANR.
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[2008] 11 S.C.R. 992 ~ A DR. RAJBIR SINGH DALAL v. CHAUDHARI DEVI LAL UNIVERSITY, SIRSA & ANR. (CIVIL APPEAL No. 4908 of 2008) B AUGUST 6, 2008 [ALTAMAS KABIR AND MARKANDEY KATJU, JJ.] Education - Universities - Appointment/Selection - Post of Reader in Public Administration - Appointment of person c possessing academic qualification in discipline of Political Science - Challenge to - Appointment/selection set aside by High Court relying on Dr; Bhanu Prasad's case that Political Science and Public Administration are distinct and separate subjects - Sustainability of - Held: Not sustainable - Apply- D ing the Anusanga principle, expression 'relevant subject' should be inserted in the qualification for post of Reader after words "at the Master's degree level" - It cannot be said that it was not necessary for appointee to have Master's degree in the relevant·subject for appointment to the post of Reader- However, academic experts regarded Political Science and E Public Administration to be inter-related and inter-changeable subjects - Thus, this Court should not sit in appeal over their opinion - More so, appointee selected by selection commit- tee of eminent experts- Furthermore, Dr. Bhanu Prasad's case cannot be treated as a precedent, since it is not based on any ·F reasoning but on concession - Mimansa Rules of lnterpreta- ·~ tion - Anusanga principle - Precedents. Interpretation of statues - Mimansa Rules of lnterpreta- tion - Anusanga principle - Discussed. G Precedents - Precedential value of decision - Held: Decision of Court is a precedent if it lays down some principle of Jaw supported by reasons - Mere casual observations or 1 directions without laying down any principle of law and without giving reasons does not amount to a precedent. H 992 OR. RAJBIR SINGH DALAL v. CHAUDHARI DEVI LAL 993 )' UNIVERSITY, SIRSA & ANR. The respondent issued an advertisement for direct A recruitment to the post of Reader in Public Administra- tion. Appellant, a post graduate degree and Ph.D in Politi- cal Science applied for the post and was selected. Re- spondent No. 2, Lecturer in Public Administration also applied for the post but was not selected. Respondent B No. 3 filed writ petition challenging the appointment of appellant since the appellant did not possess the requi- site qualification for the post of Reader in Public Adminis- tration. High Court relying on Dr. Bhanu Prasad Panda's case that Public Administration and Political Science are c distinct and separate disciplines and the UGC Regulation that for appointment to the post of Reader a candidate would have to be quali~ied in the relevant subject, set aside the selection and appointment of the appellant. Hence the present appeal. D Allowing the appeal, the Court HELD: Per Katju, J: 1.1 The ordinary principle of interpretation is that words should neither be added nor deleted from a statu- E tory provision. However, there are some exceptions to the rule where the alternative lies between either supplying by implication words which appear to have been acciden-· tally omitted, or adopting a strict construction which leads ) to absurdity or deprives certain existing words of all meaning, and in this situation it is permissible to supply F the words. [Para 13] [1003 G D] Siraj-ul-Haq vs. Sunni Central Board of Waqf, UP AIR 1959 SC 198; State Bank of Travancore vs. Mohammad AIR 1981 SC 17 44; Gujarat Composite Ltd. vs. Ra nip Nagarpalika G AIR 2000 SC 135; Divisional Personnel Officer, Southern Rail- tr way vs. T R. Challappan AIR 1975 SC 2216 - referred to. Principles of Statutory Interpretation by Justice G.P. Singh, 9th edn. pp 71-76 - referred to. H 994 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 11 S. C.R. A 1.2 The Mimansa principles were regularly used by great jurist for interpreting the legal texts. In Mimansa, casus omissus is known as adhyahara. The adhyahara principle permits to add words to a legal text. However, the superiority of the Mimansa Principles· over Maxwell's B Principles in this respect is shown by the fact that Max- well does not go into further detail and does not mention the sub-categories coming under the general category of casus omissus. In the Mimansa system, the general cat- egory of adhyahara has under it several sub-categories, e.g., anusanga, anukarsha, vakyashesha, etc. [Para 20] C [1003 CD, 1005-B] 1.3 ·The anusanga principle or elliptical extension states that a
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