6/30/2021 Note on importance of comma in the course of interpretation of statute

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Note on importance of comma in

the course of interpretation of
statute
Madhukar N Hiregange Follow
Chartered Accountant - Indirect … 66 8 0

CA Kuber V Hundekar
 
Introduction: Comma is the most commonly used punctuation mark. Generally, the mark comma
is understood to provide a pause between two phrases in the sentences. The mark comma is
used for various purposes –
a.      sentence which provides list of things / activities (comma in such a context is known as
serial comma);
Illustration – Business includes any trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation, adventure,
wager or any other similar activity, whether or not it is for a pecuniary benefit.
 
b.     a sentence which incorporates two clauses could be separated by a comma (known as
comma splice). In this scenario, generally, the same interpretation or meaning could be retained
by replacing comma with full-stop;
Illustration - Continuous supply of services means a supply of services which is provided, or agreed
to be provided, continuously or on recurrent basis, under a contract, for a period exceeding three
months with periodic payment obligations and includes supply of such services as the Government
may, subject to such conditions, as it may, by notification, specify.
 
c.      used to separate an introductory part in a sentence;
Illustration – Capital goods means goods, the value of which is capitalised in the books of account
of the person claiming the input tax credit and which are used or intended to be used in the course
or furtherance of business.
 
d.     used to separate phrases which interrupts the sentence flow (nevertheless, nonetheless,
moreover, further, accordingly, as such etc.,)
 
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6/30/2021 Note on importance of comma in the course of interpretation of statute

In the course of interpretation of statutes, the sentence and the context in which comma is used
would become relevant to construe the meaning of such sentence. The Concise Join now
Oxford Sign in

Dictionary Twelfth Edition states that ‘comma’ is a punctuation mark which indicates a pause
between parts of sentence or which is used for separating items in a list. The Major Law Lexicon
defines ‘comma’ as the smallest division of a sentence in language. The comma is used as a
punctuation to divide sentences and parts of sentences.
 
1.   Oxford comma: Oxford comma is generally used in a sentence which incorporates the list of
things / activities. In such a sentence, the last comma which is used before and or or in a series is
known as oxford comma. Generally, oxford comma is used to prevent ambiguity. In other words,
the oxford comma is used between the penultimate item in a list and ‘and / or’ to prevent the
confusion and to supply the plain meaning. Few of the legal precedents and references which
will assist in understanding the oxford comma are as follows:
 
a.      In Mohd. Shabbir vs. State of Maharashtra reported in (1979) 1 SCC 568 while interpreting
the provisions relating to punishment under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 viz., whoever
‘manufactures for sale, sells, stocks or exhibits for sale or distributes’ a drug without a licence is
liable for punishment. The Hon’ble Supreme Court pointed out the presence of comma after
‘manufacturers for sale’ and ‘sells’ and absence of any comma after ‘stocks’. It was, therefore held
that only stocking for sale could amount to offence and not mere stocking.
 
b.     In the case of M.K. Salpekar (Dr.) vs. Sunil Kumar Shamsunder Chaudhari reported in 1988
(4) SCC 21, the court construed clause 13(3)(v) of the C.P. and Berar Letting of Houses and Rent
Control Order which permits ejectment of a tenant on the ground that “the tenant has secured
alternative accommodation, or has left the area for a continuous period of four months and does
not reasonably need the house”. The Hon’ble Supreme Court referring the punctuation comma
after the words alternative accommodation held that the tenant ‘does not reasonably need the
house’ has no application when he ‘has secured alternative accommodation’.
 
c.      Section 3(1)(c ) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 was subject to interpretation before the
Hon’ble Supreme Court which reads as follows: 

If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State - obtains, collects,
records or publishes or communicates to any other person any secret official code or pass word,
or any sketch, plan, model, article or note or other document or information which is calculated
to be or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy or which relates to
a matter the disclosure of which is likely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security
of the State or friendly relations with foreign States.

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6/30/2021 Note on importance of comma in the course of interpretation of statute

The Hon’ble Supreme Court upholding the judgment of the Hon’ble High Court held that the
word 'secret' in the said section qualifies official code or pass word and not any Join nowplan,Sign in
sketch,
model, article or note or other document or information. This is clear from the comma and the
word 'or' which comes after the word 'password'. The reason given by the High Court is that
after the phrase "any secret official code or pass word", there is a comma and what follows is
thus not intended to be qualified by the word 'secret'.
 
d.     Section 52(f) of the Army Act, 1950 which provides that any person subject to the Act, who
‘does any other thing with intent to defraud, or to cause wrongful gain to one person or
wrongful loss to another person’, commits an offence in respect of property. The Hon’ble
Supreme Court in the case of Union of India & Ors vs. Rabinder Singh reported in (2012) 12 SCC
797 at page 795 has held that the two parts of Section 52(f) are disjunctive, which can be seen
from the use of comma and the word ‘or’ between the two parts of the clause.
 
e.      The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sree Durga Distributors vs. State of Karnataka
reported in 7 VST 267 has categorically held that the punctuation comma (,) intends to divide
the entry in the exemption schedule viz., Schedule I to the Karnataka VAT Act, 2003. The entry to
exemption schedule read as:
 
5. Animal feed and feed supplements, namely, processed commodity sold as poultry feed, cattle
feed, pig feed, fish feed, fish meal, prawn feed, shrimp feed and feed supplements and mineral
mixture concentrates, intended for use as feed supplements including de-oiled cake and wheat
bran.
 
The Hon’ble Supreme Court categorically held that the punctuation mark "comma" has been
used expressly after the words "animal feed and feed supplements", which indicates that the
Legislature intended to classify these two items as one class/ category.
 
It is apparent from the above judicial precedents that the oxford comma is used to avoid the
ambiguity that would prevail otherwise. While the above are few of the judgments where the
Courts have considered the punctuation in the course of interpretation / pronouncing the
judgment, the other school of thought has a view that the punctuations cannot be used as tools
to alter the meaning of a sentence. In this regard, following few references and the judgments
would be relevant:
 
a.      The Hon’ble High Court of Kerala in the case of Hotel Ashoka vs. CTO reported in …. Has
made the following observation insofar as interpretation involving punctuations is concerned:
-         In Statutory interpretation by Francis Bennion, it is referred that the punctuation forms
part of an Act, and may be used as a guide to interpretation. Punctuation is generally of little
weight, however, since the sense of an Act should be the same with or without punctuation. It is

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6/30/2021 Note on importance of comma in the course of interpretation of statute

further referred that punctuation is a device not for making meaning, but for making meaning
plain. Its purpose, is to denote the stops that ought to be made in oral reading, Join
and now
to pointSign
out in
the sense. Drafters are instructed that they should on no account, allow the meaning to turn, on
the presence or absence of a punctuation mark. The good drafter consciously drafts every clause
with an eye to what its sense would be if all such marks were removed;
 
-         Crawford in his book on "Statutory Construction" says that when a statute is careful by
punctuation, there is no doubt as its meaning, weight should undoubtedly be given to
punctuation. Punctuation, therefore, certainly has its uses, but tendency of courts is not to allow
it to control the plain meaning of a text. This is because the draftsman very often does use
punctuation marks improperly.

-         The use and purpose of using a "semi-colon" in a statute is explained by Vepa P. Sarathi in
his book interpretation of statutes. It is said "semicolon" is an important and interesting mark to
use. It is stronger than a comma, which is used more for a pause; but the semi-colon does not
imply a complete break like the full stop. It only makes a partial break and is at the same time a
link between sentences appearing on the subject. It often implies that what follows at least
partially explains and amplifies the sentence that comes before it. It is often used instead of a
comma when it is followed by "and" or "or" or "but".
 
b.     The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Aswini Kumar Ghose vs. Arabinda Bose reported
in 1953 SCR 1 has held that punctuation is after all a minor element in the construction of
statute, and very little attention is paid to it by English Courts……………………………. that it need not
be denied that punctuation may have its uses in some cases, but it cannot certainly be regarded
as a controlling element and cannot be allowed to control the plain meaning of a text.
 
2.   Conclusion / comments: The comma is the most used punctuation mark in the course of
drafting. The courts may or may not regard the punctuation for construing the meaning and the
intention of the legislature. Yet, the purpose and objective with which such punctuation mark is
incorporated into the statute would always assist in interpretation of complex and lengthy
provisions. Apart from comma, there are other punctuation marks viz., semicolon, apostrophe,
hyphen, dash etc., which would also be used as tools in the course of interpretation. Contribution
of the Bangalore GST Study Group - Feedback: kuber@sduca.com

Published By
Madhukar N Hiregange Follow
Chartered Accountant - Indirect Tax

In the course of the deliberation in the Bangalore GST Study Group, a doubt was raised on the different
meaning of the comma. CA Kuber analyses the same in the article. Feedback to kuber@sduca.com

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6/30/2021 Note on importance of comma in the course of interpretation of statute

8 comments
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Vinamar Gupta 2y
Vinamar CA Practicing Tax Laws
Gupta
Dear Sir, now try hands on semi colon, colon, and, or. This article, I could understand
was manifestation of  interpretation of comma with or. There may be other
permutations and combinations also
Like Reply 1 Reply

Madhukar N Hiregange 2y
Chartered Accountant - Indirect Tax

Vinamer- you are quite analytical- why do you not pen an article on that. All
the best.
Like Reply

Kuber Hundekar 2y
Kuber Chartered Accountant
Hundekar
Thank you Madhukar Sir for posting this article. Any suggestions and feedback on this
note - please drop an email to kuber@kvhca.com
Like Reply

Madhukar N Hiregange 2y
MadhukarChartered Accountant - Indirect Tax
N
pl send your appreciation mail to CA Kuber whose id is there in the article. Am sure he
Hiregange
would be very happy.
Like Reply

Vinamar Gupta 2y
Vinamar CA Practicing Tax Laws
Gupta
This is an excellent article. Sir, convey my congrats to Kuber for such excellent
interpretation.
Like Reply

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6/30/2021 Note on importance of comma in the course of interpretation of statute

Ashwin Varanashi 2y
Ashwin ACA (India), CPA (Ireland)- Income Tax and International Tax Professional Join now Sign in
Varanashi
Superbbb article
Like Reply

Mahesh Kiran T B 2y
Mahesh Business Advisor, Astrological Guidance n Tally Certified Partner. Co-Founder @ Medha
Consultancy Services (MCS)
Kiran T
B I remember my father used to tell importance of comma 😀
Judgement delivered...
Two
News papers printed differently Hang him, Not leave him
Hang him not, Leave him
Like Reply 1 Like

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