in interpreting a statute, effort should be made to give effect to each and every word used by the Legislature

Supreme Court of India
Nathi Devi vs Radha Devi Gupta on 17 December, 2004
Author: B Singh
Bench: N. Santosh Hegde, S.N. Variava, B.P. Singh, H.K. Sema
           CASE NO.:
Appeal (civil)  5027 of 1999

PETITIONER:
Nathi Devi

RESPONDENT:
Radha Devi Gupta

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 17/12/2004

BENCH:
N. SANTOSH HEGDE, S.N. VARIAVA, B.P. SINGH, H.K. SEMA & S.B. SINHA

JUDGMENT:

It is equally well settled that in interpreting a statute, effort should be made to give effect to each and every word used by the Legislature. The Courts always presume that the Legislature inserted every part thereof for a purpose and the legislative intention is that every part of the statute should have effect. A construction which attributes redundancy to the legislature will not be accepted except for compelling reasons such as obvious drafting errors. (See  State of U.P. and others vs. Vijay Anand Maharaj : AIR 1963 SC 946 ; Rananjaya Singh vs. Baijnath Singh and others : AIR 1954 SC 749 ; Kanai Lal Sur vs. Paramnidhi Sadhukhan : AIR 1957 SC 907; Nyadar Singh vs. Union of India and others : AIR 1988 SC 1979 ; J.K. Cotton Spinning and Weaving Mills Co. Ltd. vs. State of U.P. : AIR 1961 S.C. 1170 and Ghanshyam Das vs. Regional Assistant Commissioner, Sales Tax : AIR 1964 S.C. 766).