State Of Kerala & Ors vs Mini Shamsudin & Anr
- SCC(2009) 3 SCC 466
- Neutral2009 INSC 92
- SCR[2009] 1 SCR 723
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
A lottery ticket represents an actionable claim—specifically, a conditional interest in prize money not in the purchaser's possession—and is therefore excluded from the definition of "goods" under sales tax statutes, notwithstanding that actionable claims are movable property in the wider sense; consequently, a sale of a lottery ticket is not subject to sales tax law.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 594 OF 2009 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.2855 of 2009) (CC No. 973/09)
State of Kerala & Ors. ...Appellant(s)
Versus
Mini Shamsudin & Ors. ...Respondent(s)
ORDER
Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner.
Delay condoned.
Leave granted.
In view of the decision of the Constitution Bench of this Court in
Sunrise Associates vs. Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Ors reported in 2006 (5) SCC 603,
we find no merit in this appeal which is accordingly dismissed. It need to be stated
that this Court in the said case inter alia held as follows:
"We have noted earlier that all the statutory definitions of the word `goods' in the State Sales Tax Laws have uniformly excluded, inter alia, -2-
actionable claims from the definition for the purpose of the Act. Were actionable claims etc., not otherwise includible in the definition of `goods' there was no need for excluding them. In other words, actionable claims are `goods' but not for the purpose of the Sales Tax Acts and but for this statutory exclusion, an actionable claim would be `goods' or the subject matter of ownership. Consequently, an actionable claim is movable property and `goods' in the wider sense of the term but a sale of an actionable claim would not be subject to the sales tax law.
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A lottery ticket has no value in itself. It is a mere piece of paper. Its value lies in the fact that it represents a chance or a right to a conditional benefit of winning a prize of a greater value than the consideration paid for the transfer of that chance. It is nothing more than a token or evidence of this right. The Court in H.Anraj, as we have seen, held that a lottery ticket is a slip of paper of memoranda evidencing the transfer of certain rights. We agree.
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The question is, what is this right which the ticket represents? There can be no doubt that on purchasing a lottery ticket, the purchaser would have a claim to a conditional interest in the prize money which is not in the purchaser's possession. The right would fall squarely within the definition of an actionable claim and would therefore be excluded from the definition of `goods' under the Sale of Goods Act and the Sales tax statutes."
....................J. (Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT)
...................J. (ASOK KUMAR GANGULY) New Delhi, February 2, 2009.
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