Harihar Prasad v State of Bihar

• Dispute over mining lease renewal under Bihar mining regulations
• Administrative authorities had consistently followed a particular interpretation for decades
• Petitioner challenged that interpretation

1. Whether long-standing administrative practice can be used as an aid to interpret ambiguous statutory provisions.

• Contemporanea expositio is a legitimate external aid
• Where administrative practice is long, uniform, and consistent, it carries persuasive weight
• Particularly relevant when private rights have crystallised based on that practice
• Appeal dismissed

A contemporaneous and consistent interpretation placed on a statute by the executive, acquiesced in by the legislature for a long period, is entitled to great weight as an aid to construction of ambiguous provisions.