Old Machinery

Old machinery, in the absence of any indication to that effect and when the expression 'old' is by itself vague, imprecise, and ambiguous, being too general, the principle of noscitur a sociis will have to be applied i.e. all the associated words will take colour from each other, the meaning of the more general adjective viz. 'old' being restricted to a sense analogous to the less general adjectives 'discarded, unserviceable or obsolete'. In order to fall within the expression 'old machinery' occurr-ing in the entry, the machinery must be old machinery in the sense that it has become non-functional or non-usable, Rainbow Steels Ltd. v. C.S.T., AIR 1981 SC 2101 (2104): (1981) 2 SCC 141: (1981) 2 SCR 727. [U.P. Sales Tax Act (15 of 1948), Notification dt. 30-5-1975, entry 15]