Fixture test for factory machinery: annexed equipment meant for permanent beneficial enjoyment is immovable property and needs registration.

Plant and machinery fixed in a bone mill were treated as immovable property because the annexation served the permanent beneficial enjoyment of the factory premises, not merely the convenience of the machinery. The court applied the fixture test and held that the decisive factor was the intention inferred from the circumstances, including acquisition of land and machinery for carrying on the business together. On that basis, an instrument creating a charge over the machinery required compulsory registration, and the challenge to the suit succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the plant and machinery installed in the bone mill were immovable property so as to require registration of the agreement creating a charge, or remained movable property notwithstanding their attachment to the factory premises.

Analysis: The test was not the mere possibility of dismantling or removal, but the nature and object of the annexation. The relevant enquiry was whether the machinery had been attached to the earth or to something attached to the earth for the permanent beneficial enjoyment of the premises, in which event it would become part of the immovable property. The Court applied the principles governing fixtures and held that the degree of annexation was a minor consideration compared with the intention inferred from the circumstances, including the fact that the owner had acquired both land and machinery for carrying on the business. On those facts, the machinery was annexed to the factory floor as part of the permanent equipment of the mill.

Conclusion: The plant and machinery were immovable property, the agreement creating the charge required registration, and the appeal succeeded. The suit against the appellant was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Machinery fixed to a factory premises with the intention of serving the permanent beneficial enjoyment of the premises, and not merely the convenience of the chattel itself, becomes immovable property and any instrument creating a charge over it is subject to compulsory registration.

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