K.P. Mozika vs Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. 2024 INSC 27 :: [2024] 1 S.C.R. 488 – Article 366(29A)(d) Constitution -Assam General Sales Tax Act -Assam Value Added Tax Act

Constitution of India, 1950 ; Article 366(29A)(d) – In every case where the owner of the goods permits another person to use goods, the transaction need not be of the transfer of the right to use the goods. It can be simply a license to use the goods which may not amount to the transfer of the right to use. The contract will be covered by sub­clause (d) of Clause 29A of Article 366, provided all the five conditions laid down are fulfilled – To constitute a transaction for the transfer of the right to use the goods, the transaction must have the following attributes: ( a) there must be goods available for delivery; ( b) there must be a consensus ad idem as to the identity of the goods; ( c) the transferee should have a legal right to use the goods—consequently all legal consequences of such use including any permissions or licences required therefor should be available to the transferee; ( d) for the period during which the transferee has such legal right, it has to be the exclusion to the transferor—this is the necessary concomitant of the plain language of the statute viz. a “transfer of the right to use” and not merely a licence to use the goods; ( e) having transferred the right to use the goods during the period for which it is to be transferred, the owner cannot again transfer the same rights to others – Referred to concurring view of the Justice AR Lakshmanan in the case of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited v. Union of India (2006) 3 SCC 1. (Para 31-33)

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