Skip to main content
Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law
Document Fragment View
Matching Fragments
Mr. Ganesh, learned senior counsel for the Appellants, submitted
that the essence of a sale of goods is that the parties must enter into a
contract for the transfer of property in movables for a price. He
submitted that such a contract may be a separate and distinct contract
or it may be an inseparable part of a larger contract, such as a
contract for the construction of a house with materials to be supplied
by the contractor. He further submitted that prior to the 46th
Amendment to the Constitution of India, it had been held by this Court
in the Gannon Dunkerly's case [1959 SCR 379] that no sales tax could
be levied on the transfer of property in goods in the case of such an
inseverable contract. He further submitted that Article 366(29A)(b),
inserted by the 46th Amendment, only enables an inseverable contract
to be split up, so as to enable sales tax to be levied on that part of it
which consists of a contract to transfer property in movables for a
price. He submitted that Article 366(29A)(b) does not have the effect
or consequence of converting what in law is not a sale of goods into a
taxable sale of goods. He submitted that Article 366(29A)(b) does not
make any departure from the basic concept of the parties having to
enter into a contract for the transfer of property in movables for a
price. He submitted that the statutory definitions of "Sale" (Sec. 2(k),
"Taxable Turnover" (Sec. 2(u-1) and "Turnover" (Sec. 2(k), read with
the charging Section 5B, in the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, also indicate
that there must be an agreement for transfer of property in certain
goods for an identifiable price. He submitted that in a maintenance
contract, the only obligation cast on the service provider is to keep the
equipment in question in operating condition and to repair it if
necessary and to replace a part only if found necessary. He submitted
that a maintenance contract is thus not a contract which is entered
into for a transfer of the property in any specific part or component for
any identifiable price. He submitted that a maintenance contract,
when entered into, is not an agreement for the sale of goods. He
submitted that a maintenance contract does not get transformed into
an agreement for the sale of goods merely by reason of the
subsequent development of some parts or components being replaced
by the service provider, as an integral part of the contractual
obligation of keeping the equipment in good operating condition. He
submitted that in a maintenance contract, the charge is paid for the
service and not as a price for the replacement of any particular part or
component. He submitted that when the contract is entered into, it is
not even known whether any part or component will require
replacement or not. He submitted that there is thus no nexus or
correlation between the price paid for the contract and the value of
any part or component which subsequently gets replaced, if at all,
during the contract period. He further submitted that the basic and
essential requisites of a contract of sale of goods are thus entirely
missing in a maintenance contract, and the same are not created or
brought into existence by the 46th Amendment. He submitted that the
predominant and basic object of a maintenance contract is the
rendering of a service and not the sale of any goods.