STATE OF KERALA & ORS.versusPRABHAVATHY THANKAMMA & ORS.

                             [2009] 1 S.C.R. 641


                       ST ATE OF KERALA & ORS.                            A
                                      V.
                  PRABHAVATHY THANKAMMA & ORS.
                     (Civil Appeal No.460 of 2009)

                            JANUARY 23, 2009
                                                                          B
              [DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND ASOK KUMAR
                           GANGULY, JJ.]

            SALES TAX LAWS:
                                                                          c
            "Goods" - Purchaser's right on purchasing a lottery ticket
       - Held: Is an actionable claim and therefore would be
       excluded from the definition of "goods" - Actionable claim.

            CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No.460
--.-   of 2009.                                               D

           From the Judgment and Order dated 20.7.2007 of the High
       Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in W.A. No. 1786 of 2007.

            R. Salish for the Appellants.                                 E
           The following Order of the Court was delivered

                                   ORDER

             DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. 1. Heard learned counsel for the      F
       petitioner.

           2. Delay condoned.

           3. Leave granted.
                                                                          G
           4. In view of the decision of the Constitution Bench of this
       Court in Sunrise Associates vs. Govt. of NCT of Delhi and 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
                                     641                                  H
    642             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [2009] 1 S.C.R.


A   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, actionable claims from
           the definition for the purpose of the Act. Were actionable
B
           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
c          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.

D                x:xxxxx                   x:xxxxx            )()()()()(


                  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
E
           of that chance. It is nothing more than a token or evidence
           of this right. The Court in H. An raj, as we have seen, held
           that a lottery ticket is a slip of paper of memoranda
           evidencing the transfer of certain rights. We agree.

F                xxxxxxx                   xxxxxxx            x:xxxxx
       5. 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
G 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."

H   G.N.                                              Appeal dismissed.