noscitur  a  sociis

Court was concerned with the meaning of the expression “posting” which occurs in Article 233 of the Constitution, qua District judges in a State. Applying the doctrine of noscitur a sociis, this Court held that given the fact that the expression “posting” comes in between “appointment” and “promotion” of District Judges, it is clear that a narrower meaning has to be assigned to it, namely, that of assigning someone to a post which would not include “transfer”. Quite apart from the positioning of the word “posting” in between “appointment” and “promotion”, from which it took its colour, even otherwise, Articles 234 and 235 of the Constitution would make it clear that since “transfer” of District Judges is with the High Court and not with the State Government, quite obviously, the expression “posting” could not be used in its wider sense – see pages 460 and 461. This judgment is an early application of the rule of  noscitur  a  sociis,  given  the  position  of  a  wider  word  between two narrow words, and more importantly, the reading of other allied provisions in the Constitution. State of Assam v. Ranga Mahammad, (1967) 1 SCR 454