Repair-linked replacement was not a sale where payment was treated as repair charges, not price of goods.

A replacement arrangement linked to repair services was held not to constitute a sale under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, because the customer paid repair charges, not the price of goods. The fact that the same amount was payable whether the customer waited for its own repaired compressor or accepted another repaired compressor immediately showed that the consideration was for repair work, not a transfer of goods for valuable consideration. No implied contract of sale could be inferred, so no taxable sale event arose and no referable question of law survived.

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Issues: Whether the transaction by which a customer received a repaired compressor off the shelf of the assessee against payment of repair charges and return of the defective compressor amounted to a sale under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, and whether the refusal to direct a reference raised any substantial question of law.

Analysis: The statutory definition of sale required a transfer of goods for cash, deferred payment, or other valuable consideration. The transaction in question was held to be a replacement arrangement connected with repair of the customer's defective compressor, not a sale of the repaired compressor. The customer paid the same repair charges whether it waited for its own repaired compressor or took another repaired compressor immediately, which showed that the amount charged was repair consideration and not the price of the goods. The Court also held that no implied contract of sale could be spelt out from the arrangement and, therefore, no taxable sale event arose. Since the Tribunal's view was based on settled principles, no referable question of law survived.

Conclusion: The transaction was not a sale and the repair charges were not sale price; the Tribunal rightly rejected the reference application.

Final Conclusion: The application failed as the disputed turnover was held to be repair consideration and not sales turnover, leaving no substantial question of law for reference.

Ratio Decidendi: A transaction is taxable as a sale only where there is a consensual transfer of goods for monetary consideration; a replacement arrangement linked to repair services, where the payment is in substance repair charges and not price, does not constitute a sale.

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