TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (4) TMI 972
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....ty Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Corporate Division, the issue is whether receipts of the sums by the dealer from the customers to whom the motor vehicles were sold by the dealer towards registration, road tax and insurance premium form part of the sales price of the motor vehicles as defined in section 2(31) of the WBST Act, 1994. The decision of the authorities below on the point of inclusion of the payments of registration cost, road tax and insurance premium was based on the decision of the two-member Bench of this Tribunal made in the judgment delivered on January 17, 2006 (Frostees Exports (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. A.C.C.T., Bhawanipur Charge [2006] 47 STA 228 (WBTT)) in the Case No. RN-525 of 2003 between the petitioners of this case and the ACCT, Bhowanipore charge and another. In the said judgment this Tribunal's Bench consisted of two honourable members observed as follows: "We are called upon to answer upon the facts and circumstances of the case as to whether the transaction in question is one integrated transaction or an after-sale activity. One of the modes of such determination as to whether a particular payment is to be included in the sale price or not is to ....
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....by the assessee for its distributors was not part of the consideration for the vehicle sold to the distributor. That was under a benefit of service promotion scheme available to customers and to the distributors only after cars were delivered to the ultimate customer. That is not the case here. In Hindustan Steel Ltd. v. State of Tamil Nadu [1984] 56 STC 70 (Mad) there was sale of M.S. rod, etc., by the assessee and there was a separate bargain between the parties for cutting, binding such articles for easy transport. Calculation of cutting and binding, etc., had been shown separately in the bills. The court had to decide whether the same should be held post-sale or pre-sale matter or whether includible or not in sale price or whether form part of turnover or not. It was held that there was a separate bargain between the purchaser as regard to the service to be rendered by the assessee for cutting and binding of the articles purchased by the customer for easy transport purpose. So, when there is a separate bargain, it is not possible to include such charge as part of sale price. In E.I.D. Parry (I) Ltd. v. Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes [2000] 117 STC 457, the hon....
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....988 containing provision of compulsory registration has a proviso clause stating that nothing in the section shall apply to motor vehicle in possession of a dealer. Sub-clause (30) of section 2 which defines 'owner' shows that in respect of motor vehicle subjected to hire-purchase agreement or agreement for lease or agreement for hypothecation, the person in possession of the vehicle under agreement is the owner. Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act does not mandate that only owner is entitled to effect the insurance. Any person who uses it or allow any other person to use it can get the insurance effected. Application for registration as per rule 47 has to be filed within seven days of taking delivery as per rule 47. Form 20 as per rule 47 in its serial number five refers to submission of sales certificate and certificate of road worthiness issued by the manufacturer from whom the vehicle has been purchased is to be submitted as enclosured form 23 as per rule 48 can be complied with by signature of the financier which is required to be attested by the motor vehicle registration authority. So, it does not appear that the customer has to take delivery and to get the works d....
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....2(31). Section 40 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 provides, "subject to the provisions of section 42, section 43 and section 60, every owner of a motor vehicle shall cause the vehicle to be registered by a registering authority in whose jurisdiction he has the residence or place of business where the vehicle is normally kept." Section 41 of this Act provides (1) "an application by or on behalf of the owner of a motor vehicle for registration shall be in such form and shall be accompanied by such documents, particulars and information and shall be made within such period as may be prescribed by the Central Government: Provided that where a motor vehicle is jointly owned by more persons than one, the application shall be made by one of them on behalf of all the owners and such applicant shall be deemed to be the owner of the motor vehicle for the purposes of this Act. (2) An application referred to in sub-section (1) shall be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed by the Central Government." Section 42 is a provision for registration of motor vehicles of diplomatic officers. Section 43(1) of this Act provides, "notwithstanding anything contained in section....
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....r or such other authorities as may be prescribed by the State Government for the purpose of approval of the design in the case of a trailer or a semi-trailer; (d) original sale certificate from the concerned authorities in form 21 in the case of ex-army vehicles; (e) proof of address by way of any one of the documents referred to in rule 4; (f) temporary registration, if any; (g) roadworthiness certificate in form 22 from the manufacturers, (form 22A from the body builders); (h) customs clearance certificate in the case of imported vehicles along with the licence and bond, if any: Provided that in the case of imported vehicles other than those imported under the Baggage Rules, 1998, the procedure followed by the registering authority shall be the same as those procedure followed for registering of vehicles manufactured in India; and (i) appropriate fee as specified in rule 81; (j) proof of citizenship; (k) proof of legal presence in India in addition to proof of residence in case of foreigners". Form 20 under rule 47 of the Central M.V. Rules is the prescribed form of application for registration of a motor vehicle. The serial numbers 1 to 9 are the personal details of the perso....
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....rm 20 under rule 47 it has to be declared by the person to be registered as registered owner that the vehicle is covered by a valid insurance under chapter XI of the Act. So, before registration of the motor vehicle, it has to be insured unless exempted. The insurance premium is therefore payable by the owner before registration. Section 3 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1979 provides, "every owner of a registered motor vehicle or every person who owns or keeps in his possession or control any motor vehicle shall pay tax on such vehicle at the rate specified in the Schedule. The similar provision is in sub-section (1) of section 3 of the West Bengal Additional Tax Act and one-time tax on the Motor Vehicles Act, 1989. These taxes are commonly known as road tax. The owner has to pay these taxes for a period of five years. This is a big sum of more than Rs. 20,000. This is payable after registration. So there should not be scope of debate that the payment of road tax is a post-delivery event and hence it should not form part of the "sale price" defined in section 2(31) of the Act. The learned advocate Mr. Chakraborty contended that the definition of "sale price" in section 2(31....
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.... conditions of the contract of the supply of unascertained goods and the documents. The terms and conditions expressly distinguished between the legal delivery and physical delivery. The fact of the case before us is different from the above case and as such this judgment except the legal proposition on the point of delivery is not relevant to our case. The word "delivery" is not defined in the WB VAT Act. It is defined in section 33 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930. This section provides, "delivery of goods sold may be made by doing anything which the parties agree shall be treated as delivery or which has the effect of putting the goods in the possession of the buyer or of any person authorized to hold them on his behalf". It is settled principle of law that delivery of the goods may be made by the seller doing any act or thing whereby the goods are put into the custody or under the control of the buyer. The delivery may be actual or constructive. It can be made by transfer of the documents of the title to the goods as happened in the case before us though we may not follow the judgment of this Tribunal in the case of India Potteries Limited v. Assistant Commissioner of Commercial ....