Matter of New York City Pedicab Owners' Assn., Inc. v New York City Dept. of Consumer Affairs, 2009 NY Slip Op 03108 (App. Div., 1st, Dept.)
"Administrative agencies can only promulgate rules to further the implementation of the law as it exists; they have no authority to create a rule out of harmony with the statute" (Matter of Jones v Berman, 37 NY2d 42, 53 [1975]). Moreover, an administrative body may not disregard definitions made by legislative bodies under the guise of "interpreting" regulations it is empowered to administer. "The plain language of the legislative enactment is controlling, and the administrative agency may not make a unilateral ruling that is at variance with the legislative enactment" (Two Assoc. v Brown, 127 AD2d 173, 183 [1987], appeal dismissed & lv denied 70 NY2d 792 [1987]).
The bold is mine
