Treatment of Sundaram Finance Ltd. as a shop.

S. Padmanabhan, J.

1. The question that arises for consideration in this writ petition is whether the petitioner, M/s. Sundaram Finance Limited-Madras, is a 'shop' within the meaning of the Notification No. 1088, Labour and Employment dated 26th December, 1976(hereinafter referred to as the Notification). Mr. Devanathan strenuously contended that the word 'shop' would not take in establishments like M/s. Sundaram Finance Limited which are purely commercial establishments. The learned counsel drew my attention to the definition of the word 'shop' in the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947 which definition excludes commercial establishment from its ambit. He also referred to certain dictionaries as regards the meaning of the word 'shop'.

2. In New India Maritime Agencies Private Limited, Madras v. The Government of Tamil Nadu and another W. P. No. 4077 of 1977. I have had occasion to consider the scope and width of the expression 'shop' as used in the Notification. In that case, the question arose whether the office of certain steamship agents who acted as shipping agents for booking cargo on behalf of foreign steamship companies, would fall within the meaning of 'shop' as found in the Notification. It was contended before me that the word 'shop' should be understood as a place where goods are normally bought and sold. After referring to the various decisions on the interpretation of welfare legislation it is observed as follows : "The following principles emerge from the above decisions. (I) In the construction of a social legislation the Courts ought to give the words or a section in the statute a liberal interpretation in order to see that the relief contemplated by the statute shall not be denied to the class intended to be relieved.

If a word or section in a remedial statute is capable of two constructions that construction should be preferred which advances the policy end purpose of the Act and is more beneficial to those for whose benefit the Act may have been pass d. If there is any doubt the doubt should be resolved in favour of the beneficiary.

The liberal construction must flow from the language used. The Court ought not to place an unnatural interpretation on the words contained in an enactment. There is no presumption that protection of widest amplitude must be deemed to have been conferred upon those for whose benefit the legislation may have been enacted.

The rule does not militate against the plain meaning rule and has no application when two constructions are not fairly open and the words of the enactment are reasonably capable of only one construction.

On a reference to the dictionary meaning of the word 'shop' as found in some of the standard dictionaries and two decisions of the Kerala High Court it was held that the word 'shop' has different shades of meaning and that it not only referred to a place where goods were sold, but also a place where services were rendered. Accordingly, it was held that the office of the shipping agents in that case was a shop falling within the mischief of the word 'shop' in the Notification.

3. Mr. Devanathan, canvassed the correctness of the decision in W. P. No. 4077 of 1977. The learned counsel drew my attention to the word 'shop' in some of the dictionaries. It will be sufficient to refer to the meaning given in one dictionary cited by Mr. Devanathan to show that the word shop has different shades of meaning and is not confined to a place where goods are stored and sold by retail dealers. In Mitra's Legal and Commercial Dictionary the meaning of the word 'shop' is given thus:

Shop : Shop includes any premises where any retail trade or business is carried on including the business of a barber or hairdresser, and retail sales by auction, but excluding the sale of programmes, catalogues and other similar sales at theatres. Shop means any premises where goods are sold either wholesale or by retail or both whole-sale and by retail and includes a laundry, a hair cutting sal