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"Old, discarded, unserviceable or absolute machinery, stores or vehicles including waste products ..... "

Though the tariff item started with the use of the wide word 'old', the Court came to the conclusion that "in order to fall within the expression 'old machinery' occurring in the entry, the machinery must be old machinery in the sense that it has become non-functional or nonusable". In other words, not the mere age of the machinery, which would be relevant in the wider sense, but the condition of the machinery analogous to that indicated by the words following it, was considered relevant for the purposes of the statute. The maxim of noscitur a sociis has been described by Diplock, C.J. as a "treacherous one unless one knows "the socictas to which the socii belong" (vide: Letang v. Coopex, [1965] 1 QB 232). The learned Solicitor General also warns that one should not be carried away by labels and Latin maxims when the word to be interpreted is clear and has a wide meaning. We entirely agree that these maxims and prece- dents are not to be mechanically applied; they are of as- sistance only in so far as they furnish guidance by compen- diously summing up principles based on rules of common sense and logic. As explained in Collector of Central Excise v. Parle Exports (P) Ltd., [1989] 1 SCC 345 at p. 357 and Tata Oil Mills Co. Ltd. v.C.C.E., [1989] 4 SCC 541 at p. 545-6 in interpreting the scope of any notification, the Court has first to keep in mind the object and purpose of the notifi- cation. All parts of it should be read harmoniously in aid of, and not in derogation, of that purpose. In this case, the aim and object of the notification is to grant a conces- sion to small scale factories which manufacture paper with unconventional raw materials. The question naturally arises: