As success between the parties has been divided, they are directed to bear their own costs in this Court. But when we analyse the implications of the two conditions and seek to determine the denotation of the word " court " difficulties arise. The question is as to whether the evidence of the prosecution on the aforesaid aspects is trustworthy and reliable. Thus broadly stated the construction of the section presents no difficulty. The law follows the principle that the maternity of a child is established in the woman who gives birth to it, irrespective of the lawfulness of her connection with the begetter.

In case the court is not having jurisdiction under one of the Acts, merely by combining the causes of action, the jurisdiction cannot be conferred upon the court. What does the word it court" mean in this section? That is the first part of the argument which must be carefully examined. Furthermore, as per Section 8 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, which applies to Christians in India, the domicile of origin of an illegitimate child is in the country in which at the time of his birth his mother is domiciled.

If we do not follow the literal rule of interpretation, social life will become impossible, and we will not understand each other. Thus this Court interpreted the legislation before it in a manner conducive to granting the mother, who was the only involved parent, guardianship rights over the child This Court has construed the word ˜after in Section 6(a) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act as meaning in the absence of " be it temporary or otherwise or total apathy of the father towards the child or even inability of the father by reason of ailment or otherwise.

To give an illustration, if a person says ˜this is a pencil, then he means that it is a pencil; and it is not that when he says that the object is a pencil, he means that it is a horse, donkey or an elephant. This indicates that priority, preference and pre- eminence is given to the mother over the father of the concerned child nMohammedan law accords the custody of illegitimate children to the mother and her relations.

Even in the absence of Laxmi Kant Pandey, we are not like mariners in unchartered troubled seas. According to the appellants " court " means the court as defined by s. When these two conditions are satisfied the application for reference must be made at any time before the judgment is pronounced. All the interested parties to the suit must agree to obtain a reference and the subject-matter of the reference must be any matter in difference between the parties in the suit.

In other words, we should read the statute as it is, without distorting or twisting its language. This Court has laid down that composite suit may be maintainable under the Copyright Act and the Trade and Merchandise Act, 1958 but that may not be relevant for the purpose of determining the question of a forum where a suit can be instituted. The RBI had refused to accept an application for a fixed deposit in the name of the child signed solely by the mother. In that context, this Court has observed thus : In the context of Section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act as well as Section 19 of the Guardians and Wards Act, this Court had clarified that in all situations where the father is not in actual charge of the affairs of the minor either because of his indifference or because of an agreement between him and the mother of the minor (oral or written) and the minor is in the exclusive care and custody of the mother or the father for any other reason is unable to take care of the minor because of his physical and/or mental incapacity, the mother can act as natural guardian of the minor and all her actions would be valid even during the life time of the father who would be deemed to be absent for the purposes of Section 6(a) of the HMG Act and Section 19(b) of the GW Act.

However, paternity is inherently nebulous especially where the child is not an offspring of marriage. " Two conditions must be satisfied before an application in writing for reference is made. In the present case a judgment had been delivered by the trial court and a preliminary decree had been drawn in accordance with it, and so there was no scope for making any order of reference. The argument is that an order of reference can be made only by the trial court and not by the appellate court, and so there can be no reference after the suit is decided and a decree has been drawn up in accordance with the judgment of the trial court.

In other words, the literal rule of interpretation simply means that we mean what we say and we say what we mean. " Where in any suit all the parties interested agree that any matter in difference between them in the suit shall be referred to arbitration, they 229 may at any time before judgment is pronounced apply in writing to the Court for an order of reference. The literal rule of interpretation really means that there should be no interpretation. Reserve Bank of India (1999) 2 SCC 228 are readily recollected.

We may mention here that the literal rule of interpretation is not only followed by Judges and lawyers, but it is also followed by the layman in his ordinary life. The observations of a three Judge Bench of this Court in Githa Hariharan v. 2(c) define,% the " court " inter alia as " a civil court having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the subject- matter of the reference if the same had been the subject- matter of a suit " ; and this prima facie means the trial court.

, is modified by reducing those amounts by half, for the period aforesaid. 188 of the Indian Penal Code, is also Set aside, and (3) the order for payment of full back wages, etc. If the aforesaid aspects are treated to have been duly proved, in our opinion, they form a complete chain of circumstantial evidence unequivocally pointing out accusing finger at the appellant.