TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1975 (1) TMI 85
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ne IndoBurma Petroleum Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as "the said company"), the said company addressed a letter dated 26th July, 1963, to the respondents stating that enclosed therewith was their official order No. 108 for the supply of certain Fractional H.P. Flameproof Motors and requesting the respondents to import the material on behalf of the said company as their agents and deliver the same to the said company on importation. The said letter clarified that the respondents were to act purely as the agents of the said company to import the material on their behalf and hence the property in the material would not pass to the respondents at any stage of the import or thereafter. It appears from the order of the Deputy Commissi....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... the respondents to the said company, which is dated 19th December, 1963. This debit note contains particulars of the goods supplied and states that the material was imported against the said import licence of the said company as the agents of the said company, and the total amount demanded in respect of the said goods is mentioned as Rs. 15,366. The respondents made an application to the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax under section 52 of the said Act for determination whether the aforesaid transaction of supply of the said goods by the respondents to the said company constituted a sale. The contention of the respondents was that the transaction was not a sale, that they had acted only as the agents of the said company and that the proper....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....erred. We may, however, point out that in order to ascertain whether the relationship of agency existed between the respondents and the said company, we cannot look at these documents alone, but we have to consider the true nature of the agreement between the parties and the exact circumstances of the relationship between them. We have, therefore, to consider the transaction as a whole and determine whether in supplying the aforesaid goods to the said company the respondents were acting as the agents of the said company or whether there was a transaction of sale between the respondents and the said company. In this regard, it is very significant that the goods were imported by the respondents under the actual user's licence of the said comp....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... same to the said company on importation. The said letter also provides that the respondents were to act purely as the agents of the said company to import the material on their behalf and the property in the material would not pass to the respondents at any stage. These circumstances, in our view, leave very little doubt that the transaction in question was one of agency and not that of sale. Strong reliance was placed by Mr. Parekh on the terms of the said order. The contention of Mr. Parekh was that it was very significant that in the order there was a reference to the rate being the "lowest" and, according to him, this showed that the transaction was one of sale. We find it difficult to accept this contention. In fact, it appears to ....