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1961 (9) TMI 61

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..... nvassed. Mr. T.T. Srinivasan, for the assessee, confines the present revision petition to two turnovers resulting from transactions effected with or through (1) Messrs Beardsell and Co., Rs. 1,90,638-13-8, and (2) Rallis India Ltd., Rs. 52,04-4-0. The claim with regard to the balance of the turnover which was in dispute before the Tribunal has been given up before us principally for the reason that the assessee is not able to produce any documents connected with those transactions which would support the contention now put forward. We accordingly proceed to examine the nature of the transactions entered into by the assessee with the above two firms. The arguments have been placed under two heads. Firstly, it is claimed that the exporting houses acted as the agents of the assessee and that the sale effected was one direct by the assessee to the foreign buyer. If this basis can be established, there is no doubt that the subsequent export would form part of the transaction of the previous sale which necessarily led to the export of the goods. Such a sale would be exempt from levy of sales tax by the State. It follows, therefore, that the contract and the nature of the transaction fo .....

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..... f a contract between the local seller and the foreign buyer. The absence of a contract either in the form of an actual agreement signed by the seller and the buyer or their respective agents or in the form of letters between the buyer and the seller evidencing the terms of the agreement is definitely fatal to any claim that any sale transaction by a local dealer is an export sale hit by the provisions of Article 286 of the Constitution." Though we were dealing in the portion extracted above with a case where it was claimed that the exporting house was the agent of the foreign buyer, while in the present case before us the claim advanced is that the exporting firm is the agent of the assessee-seller, the principles are just the same. Unless there is a contract of sale with a foreign buyer which leads to the export of the goods in question, it is impossible to label such a sale as an export sale, as that expression has been interpreted. In the case of the transaction with Beardsell and Co., the contract is one between that company and the assessee and it is styled "contract for the purchase of outside marks". It purports to be a confirmation of purchase of tanned hides and skins .....

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..... ee have entered into any specific contract of sale with a foreign buyer. That is certainly not the case. Neither the assessee nor even the exporting house is aware of any definite buyer for the goods in question. The specific term of the contract is that Messrs Beardsell bought the goods from the assessee subject to the conditions set out. This contract is also signed by the assessee as the seller and the assessee subscribes to the following statement: "We confirm having sold to you as above." It appears to us that there is no warrant for inferring from the terms of the contract that Messrs Beardsell were agents of the assessee and were under the terms of this contract authorised to put through what is known as an export sale. On this aspect of the matter we may immediately deal with the contract with Messrs Rallis. This contract reads: "We confirm your sale through our London correspondents of the following." The other conditions of the contract are almost similar to those of the contract with Messrs Beardsell. In dealing with a similar contract in T.C. No. 150 of 1959, we held: "This transaction certainly does not evidence a contract between the petitioner and any foreign buyer .....

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..... eem to us to indicate that the property in the goods passed on the delivery of the goods in the godowns of the exporting houses. Delivery of the goods by the seller to the buyer passes the property in the goods, where the seller does not reserve the right of disposal; in most cases, payment of price is made against delivery, but it is immaterial whether the time for payment is postponed after delivery. Unless a different intention appears, delivery as such operates to appropriate the goods to the contract, and results in the passing of the property in the goods from the seller to the buyer. The other stipulations in the contract with regard to the quality or the liability of the seller in that regard, or other terms with regard to who was to bear the cost, insurance and freight charges appear to be special terms of the contract which do not affect the question of the passing of property, particularly in the light of the conditions that we have referred to. The question then is, if the property in the goods passed to Messrs Beardsell or the Rallis, as the case may be, when the goods were delivered in their godowns, can it still be said that the sale was in the the course of export. .....

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