Uniformity of statutory interpretation across government establishments

Different instrumentalities and ministries of the Government of India cannot assign divergent and contradictory meanings to the same provision of a parliamentary enactment. The anomaly wherein the Ministry of Railways correctly includes allowances like house rent and transport allowances for calculating overtime wages while the Ministry of Defence excludes them is legally untenable. A central statute enacted by Parliament must possess uniform application and interpretation across all public and private establishments falling within its ambit. Allowing individual ministries to carve out arbitrary exemptions for their respective departmental factories violates the principle of equality and statutory consistency. The executive cannot cherry-pick interpretations to suit budgetary constraints or minimize administrative expenditure in specific sectors. When a statutory term like ordinary rate of wages is defined by the legislature, it must bear a single, harmonious meaning across every department of the government. The existence of contrary practices in other vital sectors like the railways highlights the arbitrary and discriminatory nature of the defence ministry's restrictive circulars. Judicial intervention becomes necessary to restore legal harmony and ensure that civilian employees across different government-run factories receive equal treatment under the law. (Union of India & Others v. Heavy Vehicles Factory Employees' Union and Another | 2026 INSC 74)