ORDER H. S. KAMATH, PRESIDENT. - The applicants are well-known tea merchants. They have a Branch Office in Nagpur, which controls distribution and sales of tea not only in this State but also in which was known during the period to which this assessment relates, the Central India Agency. The dispute relates to supplies made by them to their customers (wholesalers and retailers) in the Central India Agency during that period, namely, 1st June, 1947, to 30th September, 1947. The technique of supply may be described in the words of Shri S. K. Naidu, the applicants' representative : "In Central India there are Depots at Indore and Naisirabad. They are in charge of Depot Keepers. They are not authorised to sell any tea to anybody except under the orders of the Nagpur Officer. In the Central India we have got our (selling) agents appointed by our Nagpur Officer. These agents place their orders for the purchases of tea either with our travelling (canvassing) agents or directly to the Nagpur Officer. On receipt of the orders from our agents in the Central India, we direct the godown keepers to deliver the goods to the (selling) agent. The railway receipt and the despatching report are sent to us. The bills are prepared in our office and the bills along with the railway receipts are sent to the (selling) agents (buyers) concerned on realisation of the sale prices. Before we deliver the above documents we require the parties to pay the full amounts of the bill. We ask them to pay the bill amount directly to us or through some scheduled banks. On receipt of the payments, the bill and the railway receipt are sent by registered post to the (selling) agents from the Nagpur Officer. Sometime we send these documents (railway receipt and bill) through scheduled banks which recover the sale proceeds of the tea and deliver these documents to the parties." * * * * "We sold tea ......... worth Rs. 1,18,709-10-9 to buyers of the Central India. The supplies .......... were made from the godowns at Mhow, Ujjain and Ratlam. They are reserve godowns. The godown keepers of these places execute the orders issued by us from the Nagpur Branch ............................................. we are not liable to pay any sales tax on a sum of Rs. 1,18,709-10-9, as the goods were supplied from the Central India godowns. The supplies .......... were made from the godowns at Mhow, Ujjain and Ratlam. They are reserve godowns. The godown keepers of these places execute the orders issued by us from the Nagpur Branch ............................................. we are not liable to pay any sales tax on a sum of Rs. 1,18,709-10-9, as the goods were supplied from the Central India godowns. Only the accounts are kept in Nagpur, bills are also prepared here and bills and railway receipts are sent from the Nagpur Office by the Nagpur Manager. Payments are received in Nagpur. Goods to these godowns are supplied by the Calcutta factory directly." (I have taken the above from Shri Naidu's statements made on affirmation before the Assistant Commissioner on two different days, namely, 19th January, 1949, and 15th July, 1949. At a few places I have supplied the words "selling" and "canvassing" to distinguish between the two kinds of agents referred to in the statements.) 2. There is no dispute about the correctness of the facts stated by the applicant's representative in describing the technique of supply. Briefly, he customers in Central India place their orders with the applicants' office at Nagpur either direct or through the latter's travelling or canvassing agents. The goods to be supplied are situated at no time either at Nagpur or at any other place in the Province. They are stocked at the depots or godowns at certain places in Central India itself and the stocks at these depots or godowns are replenished, as and when necessary, direct from the Calcutta godowns of the applicants. On receipt of an order from a customer in Central India, the Nagpur office instructs the person in charge of one of the depots or godowns in Central India to despatch the goods. He despatches the goods and sends the railway receipt to the Nagpur office, which endorses the railway receipt to the customer and sends it to him together with the bill (prepared at the Nagpur office itself) taking care, however, in diverse ways, to recover the amount billed, before actual deliveries are made. Accounts concerning these supplies are all kept at the Nagpur office, though separately from the accounts concerning supplies made in Province itself. 3. The Assistant Commissioner, whose view has been upheld by the Commissioner, held that the sales which resulted in the supplies made in Central India took place in this Province. Accounts concerning these supplies are all kept at the Nagpur office, though separately from the accounts concerning supplies made in Province itself. 3. The Assistant Commissioner, whose view has been upheld by the Commissioner, held that the sales which resulted in the supplies made in Central India took place in this Province. His reasons were :- "Since orders are obtained in Nagpur and Nagpur office delivers the documents of title at Nagpur and payments are received at Nagpur, I hold that the sales have taken place in this Province." In supporting this view, the learned counsel for the State relies on Section 19(1) of the Sale of Goods Act, read with Section 2(4) of that Act. The letter merely defines the expression "document of title to goods" and goes on to say that it includes a railway receipt. The former, Section 19(1), reads as follows :- "Where there is a contract for the sale of specific or ascertained goods the property in them is transferred to the buyer at such time as the parties to the contract intend it to be transferred." 4. The first question to examine is whether the contract of sale in the process of supply described in paragraphs 1 and 2 can be considered to be one for specific or ascertained goods. Admittedly, the order received and accepted at Nagpur is "for so many cases of specified brands of tea." At that stage, the contract obviously is not one for specific or ascertained goods. Thereafter the Nagpur office passes on the order to a depot in Central India, which appropriates the goods (which are certainly in a deliverable state) to the contract and hands them over to the carrier (namely the Railway Company) for the purpose of transmission to the buyer. At this second stage, the goods have undoubtedly become specific or ascertained, but the appropriation is not unconditional, nor has the delivery to the carrier been made, without reserving the right of disposal. Next we find the Nagpur office endorsing to the customer the railway receipt received from the supplying depot in Central India after recovering, in most cases, the price of the goods in advance. Next we find the Nagpur office endorsing to the customer the railway receipt received from the supplying depot in Central India after recovering, in most cases, the price of the goods in advance. At this third stage, when, on recovery of the price, the railway receipt is endorsed to the customer, the right of disposal in the goods already delivered to the carrier cases to be reserved and the appropriation of the goods to the contract becomes unconditional, the buyer's assent to the transaction being implicit. There can be no doubt that it is at this stage that property in the goods is transferred. All this, however, determines only the time when property in the goods has passed. The mere fact that property has passed at a time when a certain act was done in Nagpur does not make the transfer one that has taken place in Nagpur. At the time when the act resulting in the transfer of property was done in Nagpur, the goods were somewhere in Central India. It is at that place that property can be considered as having passed, though, at the time it passed, a very necessary act to effect the transfer was performed in Nagpur. 5. What I have said above holds goods only in respect of cases where the price is recovered from the customer, before the railway receipt is endorsed to him. But in those cases where the railway receipt is sent through a bank or by V.P.P., even the final act resulting in the transfer occurs outside the Province, namely, when the customer takes delivery of the receipt after making payment for it. The reasons should be clear; when the railway receipt is sent through a bank or by V.P.P. and where the payment for the goods has yet to be received, the right of disposal in the goods delivered to the carrier ceases to be reserved and the appropriation of goods to the contract made at the second stage (vide paragraph 4) becomes unconditional only when the customer takes delivery of the receipt, making payment for it. 6. From what has been stated in paragraphs 4 and 5 above, it seems to me that the case is not really one governed by Section 19 of the Sale of Goods Act in the sense suggested, but that it involves a variant of the circumstances described in Section 23. 6. From what has been stated in paragraphs 4 and 5 above, it seems to me that the case is not really one governed by Section 19 of the Sale of Goods Act in the sense suggested, but that it involves a variant of the circumstances described in Section 23. Also, for the reasons given, in none of the instances of supplies made to customers in Central India can the sale be considered as having taken place in the Province. Further, the goods at no point of time having been situated in the Province, the sales are not such as can even be deemed to have taken place in the Province, by virtue of Explanation II to Section 2(g) of the Sales Tax Act. This contention of the applicants' learned counsel is accepted by the learned counsel for the State. The sales in dispute are not taxable. I, therefore, set aside the order of the learned Commissioner and allow this application for revision. Application allowed.