Bank locker rentals are not a transfer of the right to use goods when custody, control and security remain with the bank.

Letting out bank lockers was not a transfer of the right to use goods for sales tax purposes because the bank retained custody, effective control and the security arrangement, while the customer received only a limited, regulated right of access as part of a composite service. The consideration was for the combined facility of custody, security and restricted use, not for the locker as a chattel. The transaction therefore did not amount to a sale within the extended definition under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, and was not exigible to sales tax on that basis.

---

---

Issues: Whether the letting out of bank lockers amounted to a transfer of the right to use goods and therefore constituted a sale within section 2(g)(ii) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, so as to attract sales tax.

Analysis: The extended definition of sale under article 366(29A) of the Constitution of India and section 2(g) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 covers a transfer of the right to use goods, but the essential question was whether the locker arrangement was confined to such transfer. The lockers were installed in the bank's secure vaults, the bank retained the keys and control of access, the customer had only a limited and regulated right of use, the bank could restrict access in specified contingencies, and the bank continued to provide the security arrangement that made the facility workable. The consideration was therefore not paid merely for the locker as a chattel, but for a composite arrangement involving custody, security and restricted access. On that basis, the transaction could not be treated as a bare transfer of the right to use goods.

Conclusion: The letting out of bank lockers was not a transfer of the right to use goods within section 2(g)(ii) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 and was not exigible to sales tax on that basis.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the owner retains custody, effective control and security arrangements, and the customer receives only a limited right of use as part of a composite service, the transaction is not a transfer of the right to use goods for the purposes of sales tax.

---