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2017 (7) TMI 727 - HC - Service Tax"Sale" of used cars - motor vehicle dealer is dealing in used cars - Is its transaction a sale in the conventional sense attracting the sales tax, or a service--as an intermediary, agent, or broker--to the true owner attracting service tax? - Held that: - the sale and the registration of the sale are two distinct acts. The sale of a motor vehicle, movable property, takes place under Section 19 of the Sale of Goods of Act. But if the transferee intends to get statutory protection as the owner of the transferred vehicle, he alone must invoke Section 31 of the Act to have the vehicle transferred on to this name. Movable property--chattel--stands on a different footing. Possessing it amounts to owning it: there is an element of exclusivity. But owning it does not amount to using it. Of a motor vehicle, the sale signifies its possession; the registration, its use. The Legislation has advisedly avoided registration to be a precondition for the sale of movable property. A person can buy and possess a motor vehicle without registration so long as he does not intend to use. If he intends to use it, the registration assumes significance. As we can see, the Motor Vehicles Act regulates the use of a motor vehicle, and the sale, predates the use. Not everyone who owns a motor vehicle uses it, possessing vintage or antique cars--wealth in itself--being a case in point - the sale of a motor vehicle is governed by the Sale of Good Act, and its use by the Motor Vehicles Act. It is now well settled that strong suspicion, strange coincidences and grave doubts cannot take the place of legal proof - the Commissioner observes that the dealer takes from the used-vehicle owner a "sale letter/sale deed." Incorrect. What the dealer obtains are Forms Nos.29 & 39, signed in blank, though. And neither of them is a sale letter or sale deed, nor does the statute compel the dealer, to be the owner, to obtain one. Appeal dismissed - decided against Revenue.
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