Kerala Coir Works vs The Regional Provident Fund ... on 18 November, 1971
8. And, lastly, we come to the ruling of a single Judge (Tulzapurkar J.) of the Bombay High Court in Ramlakar Chankar Warde v. Central Board of Trustees . It is this decision that has been relied upon mainly by the counsel of the appellants ; and we shall straightaway advert to the argument of the counsel on this aspect. The counsel have pointed out that, in the several entries in Schedule I, a distinction is made between certain materials or articles and products of those materials or articles: in other words, the counsel have pointed out that entries like "milk and milk products industry", "paper products industry," "plastic and plastic products industry", etc., draw a distinction between particular materials and their products with the result that industries using such materials and industries using products of such materials should be separately treated. From this premise, the counsel have argued that the industries of the appellants are not coir industries but only coir products industries, so that they will not come within the relevant entry mentioned hereinbefore. This argument appears to have been raised before
Tulzapurkar, J. of the Bombay High Court; and the learned Judge has accepted the same. In the light of the decision of the Supreme Court mentioned already, we find it difficult to accept this argument. And, with due respect to Tulzapurkar, J., we express our inability to agree with the reasoning of the learned Judge. Gajendragadkar, C.J., has observed, in the Supreme Court decision noted above, that, if the words used in the entry are capable of a narrow and broad construction, each construction being reasonably possible, and if it appears that the broad construction would help the furtherance of the object of the Act, then the broad construction should be adopted. We would also repeat the reasoning of the Madras High Court in the Madras decision cited, viz., that due weight should be given to the opening sentence of the Schedule too, which means that, to any industry engaged in the manufacture of any of the articles mentioned in the Schedule, the Act would apply. Therefore, a wider interpretation has to be given to the relevant entry.