LEGAL PRINCIPLE: STATUTORY INTERPRETATION — Interpretation of Proviso — Function and Operation of a Provise in an Enactment

"As a general rule, a proviso has a limited operation in qualifying the ambit of the section to which it is related. It follows that where a section with a proviso appended to it confers powers, it would be contrary to the ordinary operation of the proviso to give that section an effect which would neutralise those powers in a way that it goes beyond what compliance with the proviso itself renders necessary. The object of a proviso is normally to cut down or qualify or create exceptions to or relax in a defined sense the limitations imposed or powers conferred by a section of an enactment or document; or to exclude some possible ground of misinterpretation of its extent, or to modify the main part of a section of a statute to which it relates or to restrain its absoluteness or generality."