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TMI Blog2011 (3) TMI 1590X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (for short 'the Rules'), which states: CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2684 OF 2007 "27(c) Notwithstanding anything contained in clauses (a) and (b) above, the seniority of a person appointed to a class, category or grade in a service on the advice of the Commission shall, unless he has been reduced to a lower rank as punishment, be determined by the date of first effective advice made for his appointment to such class, category or grade and when two or more persons are included in the same list of candidates advised, their relative seniority shall be fixed according to the order in which their names are arranged in the advice list." A perusal of the above rule shows that seniority is to be determined by the date of first effective advice made by the Public Service Commission to the State Government for appointment. Admittedly, in the present case, the first effective advice for the appellants was made by the Kerala Public Service Commission on 8.7.1992, and they joined between 13.8.1992 and 22.10.1992 whereas the advice for the respondent Nos. 1 to 5 was made on 6.4.1993, and they were appointed as B.D.O. On 28.9.1993 and they joined between 6.10.1993 and 17.11.1993. Hence, it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... relied on the decision of this Court in Dalilah Sojah vs. State of Kerala & Others, (1998) 9 SCC 641. That decision, in our opinion, is clearly distinguishable as it makes no reference to Rule 27(c) of the Rules. Moreover, the observation therein that "when two vacancies arose on 6.10.72 the appellant had a right to be appointed against one of the vacancies" is clearly against the settled legal position that even a selected candidate has no indefeasible right to be appointed vide Constitution Bench decision in Shankarsan Dash vs. Union of India, AIR 1991 SC 1612, and several decisions thereafter. In our opinion, Rule 27(c) of the Rules is plain and clear. Hence, the literal rule of interpretation will apply to it. No doubt, equity may be in favour of the respondents because they were selected earlier, but as observed earlier, if there is a conflict between equity and the law, it is the law which must prevail. The law, which CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2684 OF 2007 is contained in Rule 27(c), is clearly in favour of the appellants. Hence, we cannot accept the submission of the learned senior counsel for the private respondents. The language of Rule 27(c) of the Rules is clear and hence ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... raints imposed by the judicial function in our democratic society. As a matter of verbal recognition certainly, no one will gainsay that the function in construing a statute is to ascertain the meaning of words used by the legislature. To go beyond it is to usurp a power which our democracy has lodged in its elected legislature. The great judges have constantly admonished their brethren of the need for discipline in observing the limitations. A judge CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2684 OF 2007 must not rewrite a statute, neither to enlarge nor to contract it. Whatever temptations the statesmanship of policy-making might wisely suggest, construction must eschew interpolation and evisceration. He must not read in by way of creation. He must not read out except to avoid patent nonsense or internal contradiction." As observed by Lord Granworth in Grundy v. Pinniger, (1852) 1 LJ Ch 405: " 'To adhere as closely as possible to the literal meaning of the words used, is a cardinal rule from which if we depart we launch into a sea of difficulties which it is not easy to fathom." In other words, once we depart from the literal rule, then any number of interpretations can be put to a statutory ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... In Jinia Keotin vs. K.S. Manjhi, 2003 (1) SCC 730, this Court observed : " The Court cannot legislate.....under the garb of interpretation.......". Hence, there should be judicial restraint in this connection, and the temptation to do judicial legislation should be eschewed by the Courts. In fact, judicial legislation is an oxymoron. In Shiv Shakti Co-operative Housing Society vs. Swaraj Developers AIR 2003 SC 2434, this Court observed: "It is a well settled principle in law that the Court cannot read anything into a statutory provision which is plain and unambiguous. A statute is an edict of the legislature. The language employed in a statute is the determinative factor of legislative intent." CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2684 OF 2007 Where the language is clear, the intention of the legislature has to be gathered from the language used vide Grasim Industries Limited vs. Collector of Customs 2002 (4) SCC 297 and Union of India vs. Hamsoli Devi 2002 (7) SCC 273. In Union of India and another vs. Hansoli Devi and others 2002(7)SCC (vide para 9), this Court observed : "It is a cardinal principle of construction of a statute that when the language of the statute is plain and unambig ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ustration, if a person says "this is a CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2684 OF 2007 pencil", then he means that it is a pencil; and it is not that when he says that the object is a pencil, he means that it is a horse, donkey or an elephant. In other words, the literal rule of interpretation simply means that we mean what we say and we say what we mean. If we do not follow the literal rule of interpretation, social life will become impossible, and we will not understand each other. If we say that a certain object is a book, then we mean it is a book. If we say it is a book, but we mean it is a horse, table or an elephant, then we will not be able to communicate with each other. Life will become impossible. Hence, the meaning of the literal rule of interpretation is simply that we mean what we say and we say what we mean. In this connection, we may also refer to the Mimansa Rules of Interpretation which were our traditional principles of interpretation used for thousand of years by our jurists. It is deeply regrettable that in our law courts today these principles are not cited. Today, our so called educated people are largely ignorant about the great intellectual achievements of our ancesto ..... 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