Dual-capacity appropriation by an agent can amount to a taxable sale when goods are transferred for consideration.

An agent who also trades on his own account may create a taxable sale when he appropriates the principal's goods to himself for a determinable price. The analysis states that sale under section 2(28) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 requires transfer of goods for consideration, and that title passes when the agent makes debit and credit entries at market price and treats the goods as purchaser in his independent capacity. The same person acting in dual legal capacities does not prevent a sale where consideration and transfer of property are present, so the transaction falls within the statutory definition of sale.

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Issues: Whether the appropriation of the principal's goods by the assessee, acting as agent and also carrying on business on his own account, constituted a sale within the meaning of section 2(28) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959.

Analysis: Sale under section 2(28) means a transfer of goods for cash, deferred payment, or other valuable consideration. The assessee held the goods as agent of the principal, but when he appropriated them to himself by making debit entries in the Shah account and crediting the principal's account at market price, the transaction was completed and title passed from the principal to the assessee in his independent capacity. The assessee thus acted in a dual capacity, first as agent of the principal and then as purchaser on his own account. The arrangement was not illegal merely because the same person was involved in both capacities, and the presence of consideration and transfer of title satisfied the statutory definition of sale.

Conclusion: The appropriation amounted to a sale, and the transaction was taxable. The answer to the referred question was in the negative, in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an agent, who also carries on business on his own account, appropriates the principal's goods to himself for a determinable price, the transaction involves a transfer of property for consideration between two legal capacities and constitutes a sale under the sales tax law.

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