Sodexo meal vouchers are utility goods- Octroi & LBT can be levied:

Sodexo SVC India
Private Limited. Vs
The State of
Maharashtra and
Others (Bombay High
Court), Writ Petition
No. 5653 OF 2010,
Date- 20/03/2015
The Petitioner
Company is
conducting a
business of
providing preprinted
Sodexo Meal
Vouchers (For
short “the said
Vouchers”). The case made out in the Petitions is that the Petitioner Company
enters into a contract with its customers for issuing the said vouchers. The
customers of the Petitioner in turn distribute the said vouchers to their
employees who are the actual users of the said vouchers. It is
stated that the Petitioner Company has contracts with various affiliates such as
restaurants, departmental stores, shops, etc. Under the affiliate contracts, the
affiliates are required to provide food and other items on presentation of the said
vouchers by the users. The affiliates are bound to honour vouchers once
presented by the users. The affiliates after receiving the said vouchers, present
the same to the Court Petitioner Company. On receipt of the vouchers,
the Petitioner reimburses the affiliates after deducting service charges.
The case made out in the Petition is that the Petitioner Company
has obtained certificate of authorization from the Reserve Bank of India
under Section 7 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (for
short “the said Act of 2007”) to operate a payment system for issue
of meal and gift vouchers in the form of ‘paper based vouchers’ and ‘smart meal
cards’ with effect from 25th June 2009. In these two Petitions, we are
concerned with the paper based vouchers.
Issue which arises in these Petitions is whether the said vouchers are the goods
within the meaning of the Municipal Corporations Act which are capable of being
consumed, used or sold.
In this case, we are dealing with the printed paper vouchers. As
pointed out earlier, the printed vouchers are sold to the customers for the value
which is printed on the said vouchers. In turn, the customers hand over
them to a user who uses the same for acquiring food and
beverages. Even going by the scheme of the Petitioner, the said
vouchers are sold by the Petitioner to its customers. Therefore, the said
vouchers which are printed on paper are the goods within the meaning of the said
Municipal Corporations Act. After the vouchers are brought within the limits of
the Municipal Corporations Act, the same are capable of being sold. The said
vouchers which are capable of being sold, delivered and possessed have its own
utility. The same cannot be equated with a lottery ticket which
merely an actionable claim. The said vouchers cannot be equated
with electromagnetic waves.
The stand taken by the Pune Municipal Corporation in the Writ Petition No.5653
of 2010 is that the said vouchers will fall in the category of printed material
which attracts Octroi of 2% in terms of the Octroi Rules. For the reasons
recorded above, we are unable to persuade ourselves to take a view that
the said vouchers are not the goods for the purposes of levy of LBT and Octroi.
The same are the goods which are capable of being used, consumed or sold
within the Municipal Corporation limits. Therefore, the challenge in
these
Petitions by the Petitioner must fail.
Thanks