CHAPTER XVII — COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX · B.—DEDUCTION AT SOURCE
CHAPTER XVII — COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX · B.—DEDUCTION AT SOURCE
Section 194C — Payments to Contractors (Tax Deducted at Source)
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live. Among the most heavily litigated TDS provisions.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment.
Mechanism: A specified person paying a resident contractor for carrying out any work (including supply of labour) deducts tax at the earlier of credit or payment — 1% for individual/HUF payees, 2% otherwise — subject to the single-payment and annual-aggregate thresholds and the transporter exemption.
Litigation profile: Treatise-grade. The decisive questions are the width of 'work', the work-versus-sale boundary, and the boundaries with sections 194-I/194J/194H.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 194C is, with section 192 and section 194A, one of the three deduction provisions that generate the bulk of TDS litigation. It obliges a specified person (broadly, the Government, companies, firms, trusts, registered societies and individuals/HUFs above the section 44AB limits) paying any sum to a resident contractor for 'carrying out any work' (including the supply of labour to carry out any work) in pursuance of a contract, to deduct tax at the time of credit or payment, whichever is earlier — at one per cent where the payee is an individual/HUF and two per cent otherwise.
'Any work' is wide — but it is not everything
The decisive interpretive move was made early: 'work' in section 194C means 'any work' and is not confined to a 'works contract' in the technical sense it bears in sales-tax law. At the same time the courts have insisted that 'work' must culminate in a product or result — a mere availing of facilities or services (for example, a customer using a hotel's amenities) is not 'carrying out work' for the customer. The statutory Explanation now enumerates the included categories — advertising, broadcasting and telecasting, carriage of goods and passengers (otherwise than by railways), catering, and manufacturing or supplying a product to a customer's specification using material purchased from that customer.
The work-versus-sale boundary
The most heavily contested question is whether a contract is one for 'work' (within section 194C) or for the 'sale' of goods (outside it), especially in contract manufacturing. The settled tests are whether the property in the article passes to the customer only on delivery and whether the material was purchased from the customer: where the manufacturer uses his own material, manufactures on a principal-to-principal basis and property passes on delivery, the contract is one of sale and section 194C does not apply. This judicial line is now reflected in Explanation (e) (inserted by the Finance Act, 2009), which excludes from 'work' a product manufactured to specification using material not purchased from the customer.
Boundaries with the sister sections
Section 194C must be distinguished from section 194-I (where a payment is for the mere hire/use of plant, machinery or a vehicle, with possession and control passing to the hirer, it is 'rent' under section 194-I, not 'work'), from section 194J (where the dominant character is the rendering of professional or technical services) and from section 194H (commission/brokerage). The test is the substance and dominant object of the contract, not its label; characterisation decides both the section and the rate.
Sub-contractors, aggregation and default
Sub-section (2)–(3) extend the obligation to payments by a contractor to a resident sub-contractor and provide the small-payment thresholds (single-payment and annual-aggregate limits) below which no deduction is required; sub-section (6) exempts payments to a transporter who owns ten or fewer goods carriages and furnishes a declaration with PAN. The consequences of failure are those common to the Chapter — sections 201(1)/(1A), 271C and disallowance under section 40(a)(ia) — tempered by the rule that no tax is recovered twice where the payee has paid it, and that deduction attaches only to a chargeable sum.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025 (the Finance Act, 2026 makes no amendment to this section). Editorial markers “***” denote text omitted by the Legislature.
194C. (1) Any person responsible for paying any sum to any resident (hereafter in this section referred to as the contractor) for carrying out any work (including supply of labour for carrying out any work) in pursuance of a contract between the contractor and a specified person shall, at the time of credit of such sum to the account of the contractor or at the time of payment thereof in cash or by issue of a cheque or draft or by any other mode, whichever is earlier, deduct an amount equal to—
(i) one per cent where the payment is being made or credit is being given to an individual or a Hindu undivided family;
(ii) two per cent where the payment is being made or credit is being given to a person other than an individual or a Hindu undivided family, of such sum as income-tax on income comprised therein.
(2) Where any sum referred to in sub-section (1) is credited to any account, whether called "Suspense account" or by any other name, in the books of account of the person liable to pay such income, such crediting shall be deemed to be credit of such income to the account of the payee and the provisions of this section shall apply accordingly.
(3) Where any sum is paid or credited for carrying out any work mentioned in sub-clause (e) of clause (iv) of the Explanation, tax shall be deducted at source—
(i) on the invoice value excluding the value of material, if such value is mentioned separately in the invoice; or
(ii) on the whole of the invoice value, if the value of material is not mentioned separately in the invoice.
(4) No individual or Hindu undivided family shall be liable to deduct income-tax on the sum credited or paid to the account of the contractor where such sum is credited or paid exclusively for personal purposes of such individual or any member of Hindu undivided family.
(5) No deduction shall be made from the amount of any sum credited or paid or likely to be credited or paid to the account of, or to, the contractor, if such sum does not exceed thirty thousand rupees :
Provided that where the aggregate of the amounts of such sums credited or paid or likely to be credited or paid during the financial year exceeds one lakh rupees, the person responsible for paying such sums referred to in sub-section (1) shall be liable to deduct income-tax under this section.
(6) No deduction shall be made from any sum credited or paid or likely to be credited or paid during the previous year to the account of a contractor during the course of business of plying, hiring or leasing goods carriages, where such contractor owns ten or less goods carriages at any time during the previous year and furnishes a declaration to that effect along with his Permanent Account Number, to the person paying or crediting such sum.
(7) The person responsible for paying or crediting any sum to the person referred to in sub-section (6) shall furnish, to the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by it, such particulars, in such form and within such time as may be prescribed.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—
(i) "specified person" shall mean,—
(a) the Central Government or any State Government; or
(b) any local authority; or
(c) any corporation established by or under a Central, State or Provincial Act; or
(d) any company; or
(e) any co-operative society; or
(f) any authority, constituted in India by or under any law, engaged either for the purpose of dealing with and satisfying the need for housing accommodation or for the purpose of planning, development or improvement of cities, towns and villages, or for both; or
(g) any society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any law corresponding to that Act in force in any part of India; or
(h) any trust; or
(i) any university established or incorporated by or under a Central, State or Provincial Act and an institution declared to be a university under section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (3 of 1956); or
(j) any Government of a foreign State or a foreign enterprise or any association or body established outside India; or
(k) any firm; or
(l) any person, being an individual or a Hindu undivided family or an association of persons or a body of individuals, if such person,—
(A) does not fall under any of the preceding sub-clauses; and
(B) has total sales, gross receipts or turnover from business or profession carried on by him exceeding one crore rupees in case of business or fifty lakh rupees in case of profession during the financial year immediately preceding the financial year in which such sum is credited or paid to the account of the contractor;
(ii) "goods carriage" shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Explanation to sub-section (7) of section 44AE;
(iii) "contract" shall include sub-contract;
(iv) "work" shall include—
(a) advertising;
(b) broadcasting and telecasting including production of progra-mmes for such broadcasting or telecasting;
(c) carriage of goods or passengers by any mode of transport other than by railways;
(d) catering;
(e) manufacturing or supplying a product according to the requirement or specification of a customer by using material purchased from such customer or its associate, being a person placed similarly in relation to such customer as is the person placed in relation to the assessee under the provisions contained in clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 40A, but does not include—
(A) manufacturing or supplying a product according to the requirement or specification of a customer by using material purchased from a person, other than such customer or associate of such customer; or
(B) any sum referred to in sub-section (1) of section 194J.
C. AUTHORITIES
The authorities are arranged by the questions that decide a section 194C dispute: the width of 'work'; the work-versus-sale boundary; the boundaries with the sister deduction sections; and default. All citations are web-verified.
Cluster 1 — 'Any work' is wide, but must produce a result
Issue: Whether payments for loading and unloading of goods (supply of labour) attract section 194C, or whether 'work' is confined to a technical 'works contract'.
Held: 'Any work' means any work and is not restricted to a 'works contract'; the express inclusion of 'supply of labour to carry out work' shows the wide legislative intent. The deduction obligation therefore extends to all contracts for carrying out work.
Significance: The foundational, widest statement of the scope of section 194C.
Birla Cement Works v. CBDT (2001) 248 ITR 216 (SC)
Issue: Whether a contract for carriage of goods simpliciter fell within section 194C as it then stood.
Held: A contract for carriage of goods simpliciter did not, at that time, fall within section 194C; Associated Cement (which concerned loading/unloading, not transport) did not decide the carriage question. (Carriage of goods was thereafter expressly brought in by the Explanation.)
Significance: Marked the limit of 'work' before the Explanation, and shows that the included categories are a matter of the statutory list, now expanded.
East India Hotels Ltd. v. CBDT (2010) 320 ITR 526 (Bom)
Issue: Whether a hotel providing facilities/amenities to its customers is 'carrying out work' for them under section 194C.
Held: No. 'Carrying out any work' is limited to work which produces a product or result for the person paying; a hotel making its facilities available to guests is not carrying out work for the guest, so payments by customers for such facilities are outside section 194C.
Significance: The leading authority that 'work' requires the production of a result, excluding the mere provision/availing of standard services.
Cluster 2 — Work versus sale (contract manufacturing)
CIT v. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (2010) 324 ITR 199 (Bom)
Issue: Whether contract manufacture of pharmaceuticals to the assessee's formulation and trademark is 'work' (section 194C) or a 'sale'.
Held: It is a contract of sale where (i) property in the article passes to the customer only upon delivery and (ii) the material is purchased by the manufacturer from a person other than the customer; on those facts (principal-to-principal, own establishment, own materials) there was no obligation to deduct under section 194C.
Significance: Lays down the operative tests for the work/sale distinction, now embodied in Explanation (e) (Finance Act, 2009).
BDA Ltd. v. ITO (TDS) (2006) 281 ITR 99 (Bom)
Issue: Whether printing of labels/packing material supplied by the printer is a works contract within section 194C.
Held: The printing was incidental to the supply of the material; the transaction was a contract for sale, not a works contract, and was not liable to deduction under section 194C.
Significance: An early, frequently-followed application of the work/sale distinction to printing and supply.
Cluster 3 — Boundaries with sections 194-I, 194J and 194H
Principle: Where the payment is for the mere right to use a vehicle, plant or machinery, with possession and effective control passing to the hirer, the payment is 'rent' under section 194-I; where the provider retains possession and control and undertakes to carry out work (e.g. transport of goods with his own vehicle and crew as a composite obligation), the payment is for 'work' under section 194C. The enquiry is into possession, control and the dominant object.
Use: Resolves the recurring vehicle/crane/equipment-hire characterisation between sections 194C and 194-I.
Principle: Characterisation turns on the substance and dominant object of the contract, not its description; a payment whose dominant character is professional/technical service falls under section 194J, and one for commission/brokerage under section 194H, even if labelled a 'contract'.
Use: Governs the frequent overlap disputes; the rate and section both follow the true nature of the payment.
Principle: Where the payee has paid the tax on the income, the deductor cannot be required to pay the same tax again under section 201(1); compensatory interest under section 201(1A) runs for the period of default.
Use: Caps the deductor's exposure for short/non-deduction under section 194C (a misclassification between sections being the common cause).
GE India Technology Centre (P) Ltd. v. CIT (2010) 327 ITR 456 (SC) — cognate
Principle: TDS attaches only to a sum that is chargeable to tax under the Act.
Use: Where the payment to the contractor does not bear chargeable income, no deduction obligation arises.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; case-law citations have been web-verified. Where a section is new, narrow or substantially unlitigated, the candour rule is observed — the absence of direct authority is stated and only genuinely cognate authority is offered. This digest is for professional reference and is not a substitute for the official report of any judgment.
CHAPTER XVII — COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX · B.—DEDUCTION AT SOURCE
Section 194C — Payments to Contractors (Tax Deducted at Source)
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live. Among the most heavily litigated TDS provisions.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment.
Mechanism: A specified person paying a resident contractor for carrying out any work (including supply of labour) deducts tax at the earlier of credit or payment — 1% for individual/HUF payees, 2% otherwise — subject to the single-payment and annual-aggregate thresholds and the transporter exemption.
Litigation profile: Treatise-grade. The decisive questions are the width of 'work', the work-versus-sale boundary, and the boundaries with sections 194-I/194J/194H.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 194C is, with section 192 and section 194A, one of the three deduction provisions that generate the bulk of TDS litigation. It obliges a specified person (broadly, the Government, companies, firms, trusts, registered societies and individuals/HUFs above the section 44AB limits) paying any sum to a resident contractor for 'carrying out any work' (including the supply of labour to carry out any work) in pursuance of a contract, to deduct tax at the time of credit or payment, whichever is earlier — at one per cent where the payee is an individual/HUF and two per cent otherwise.
'Any work' is wide — but it is not everything
The decisive interpretive move was made early: 'work' in section 194C means 'any work' and is not confined to a 'works contract' in the technical sense it bears in sales-tax law. At the same time the courts have insisted that 'work' must culminate in a product or result — a mere availing of facilities or services (for example, a customer using a hotel's amenities) is not 'carrying out work' for the customer. The statutory Explanation now enumerates the included categories — advertising, broadcasting and telecasting, carriage of goods and passengers (otherwise than by railways), catering, and manufacturing or supplying a product to a customer's specification using material purchased from that customer.
The work-versus-sale boundary
The most heavily contested question is whether a contract is one for 'work' (within section 194C) or for the 'sale' of goods (outside it), especially in contract manufacturing. The settled tests are whether the property in the article passes to the customer only on delivery and whether the material was purchased from the customer: where the manufacturer uses his own material, manufactures on a principal-to-principal basis and property passes on delivery, the contract is one of sale and section 194C does not apply. This judicial line is now reflected in Explanation (e) (inserted by the Finance Act, 2009), which excludes from 'work' a product manufactured to specification using material not purchased from the customer.
Boundaries with the sister sections
Section 194C must be distinguished from section 194-I (where a payment is for the mere hire/use of plant, machinery or a vehicle, with possession and control passing to the hirer, it is 'rent' under section 194-I, not 'work'), from section 194J (where the dominant character is the rendering of professional or technical services) and from section 194H (commission/brokerage). The test is the substance and dominant object of the contract, not its label; characterisation decides both the section and the rate.
Sub-contractors, aggregation and default
Sub-section (2)–(3) extend the obligation to payments by a contractor to a resident sub-contractor and provide the small-payment thresholds (single-payment and annual-aggregate limits) below which no deduction is required; sub-section (6) exempts payments to a transporter who owns ten or fewer goods carriages and furnishes a declaration with PAN. The consequences of failure are those common to the Chapter — sections 201(1)/(1A), 271C and disallowance under section 40(a)(ia) — tempered by the rule that no tax is recovered twice where the payee has paid it, and that deduction attaches only to a chargeable sum.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025 (the Finance Act, 2026 makes no amendment to this section). Editorial markers “***” denote text omitted by the Legislature.
194C. (1) Any person responsible for paying any sum to any resident (hereafter in this section referred to as the contractor) for carrying out any work (including supply of labour for carrying out any work) in pursuance of a contract between the contractor and a specified person shall, at the time of credit of such sum to the account of the contractor or at the time of payment thereof in cash or by issue of a cheque or draft or by any other mode, whichever is earlier, deduct an amount equal to—
(i) one per cent where the payment is being made or credit is being given to an individual or a Hindu undivided family;
(ii) two per cent where the payment is being made or credit is being given to a person other than an individual or a Hindu undivided family, of such sum as income-tax on income comprised therein.
(2) Where any sum referred to in sub-section (1) is credited to any account, whether called "Suspense account" or by any other name, in the books of account of the person liable to pay such income, such crediting shall be deemed to be credit of such income to the account of the payee and the provisions of this section shall apply accordingly.
(3) Where any sum is paid or credited for carrying out any work mentioned in sub-clause (e) of clause (iv) of the Explanation, tax shall be deducted at source—
(i) on the invoice value excluding the value of material, if such value is mentioned separately in the invoice; or
(ii) on the whole of the invoice value, if the value of material is not mentioned separately in the invoice.
(4) No individual or Hindu undivided family shall be liable to deduct income-tax on the sum credited or paid to the account of the contractor where such sum is credited or paid exclusively for personal purposes of such individual or any member of Hindu undivided family.
(5) No deduction shall be made from the amount of any sum credited or paid or likely to be credited or paid to the account of, or to, the contractor, if such sum does not exceed thirty thousand rupees :
Provided that where the aggregate of the amounts of such sums credited or paid or likely to be credited or paid during the financial year exceeds one lakh rupees, the person responsible for paying such sums referred to in sub-section (1) shall be liable to deduct income-tax under this section.
(6) No deduction shall be made from any sum credited or paid or likely to be credited or paid during the previous year to the account of a contractor during the course of business of plying, hiring or leasing goods carriages, where such contractor owns ten or less goods carriages at any time during the previous year and furnishes a declaration to that effect along with his Permanent Account Number, to the person paying or crediting such sum.
(7) The person responsible for paying or crediting any sum to the person referred to in sub-section (6) shall furnish, to the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by it, such particulars, in such form and within such time as may be prescribed.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—
(i) "specified person" shall mean,—
(a) the Central Government or any State Government; or
(b) any local authority; or
(c) any corporation established by or under a Central, State or Provincial Act; or
(d) any company; or
(e) any co-operative society; or
(f) any authority, constituted in India by or under any law, engaged either for the purpose of dealing with and satisfying the need for housing accommodation or for the purpose of planning, development or improvement of cities, towns and villages, or for both; or
(g) any society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any law corresponding to that Act in force in any part of India; or
(h) any trust; or
(i) any university established or incorporated by or under a Central, State or Provincial Act and an institution declared to be a university under section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (3 of 1956); or
(j) any Government of a foreign State or a foreign enterprise or any association or body established outside India; or
(k) any firm; or
(l) any person, being an individual or a Hindu undivided family or an association of persons or a body of individuals, if such person,—
(A) does not fall under any of the preceding sub-clauses; and
(B) has total sales, gross receipts or turnover from business or profession carried on by him exceeding one crore rupees in case of business or fifty lakh rupees in case of profession during the financial year immediately preceding the financial year in which such sum is credited or paid to the account of the contractor;
(ii) "goods carriage" shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Explanation to sub-section (7) of section 44AE;
(iii) "contract" shall include sub-contract;
(iv) "work" shall include—
(a) advertising;
(b) broadcasting and telecasting including production of progra-mmes for such broadcasting or telecasting;
(c) carriage of goods or passengers by any mode of transport other than by railways;
(d) catering;
(e) manufacturing or supplying a product according to the requirement or specification of a customer by using material purchased from such customer or its associate, being a person placed similarly in relation to such customer as is the person placed in relation to the assessee under the provisions contained in clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 40A, but does not include—
(A) manufacturing or supplying a product according to the requirement or specification of a customer by using material purchased from a person, other than such customer or associate of such customer; or
(B) any sum referred to in sub-section (1) of section 194J.
C. AUTHORITIES
The authorities are arranged by the questions that decide a section 194C dispute: the width of 'work'; the work-versus-sale boundary; the boundaries with the sister deduction sections; and default. All citations are web-verified.
Cluster 1 — 'Any work' is wide, but must produce a result
Associated Cement Co. Ltd. v. CIT (1993) 201 ITR 435 (SC)
Issue: Whether payments for loading and unloading of goods (supply of labour) attract section 194C, or whether 'work' is confined to a technical 'works contract'.
Held: 'Any work' means any work and is not restricted to a 'works contract'; the express inclusion of 'supply of labour to carry out work' shows the wide legislative intent. The deduction obligation therefore extends to all contracts for carrying out work.
Significance: The foundational, widest statement of the scope of section 194C.
Birla Cement Works v. CBDT (2001) 248 ITR 216 (SC)
Issue: Whether a contract for carriage of goods simpliciter fell within section 194C as it then stood.
Held: A contract for carriage of goods simpliciter did not, at that time, fall within section 194C; Associated Cement (which concerned loading/unloading, not transport) did not decide the carriage question. (Carriage of goods was thereafter expressly brought in by the Explanation.)
Significance: Marked the limit of 'work' before the Explanation, and shows that the included categories are a matter of the statutory list, now expanded.
East India Hotels Ltd. v. CBDT (2010) 320 ITR 526 (Bom)
Issue: Whether a hotel providing facilities/amenities to its customers is 'carrying out work' for them under section 194C.
Held: No. 'Carrying out any work' is limited to work which produces a product or result for the person paying; a hotel making its facilities available to guests is not carrying out work for the guest, so payments by customers for such facilities are outside section 194C.
Significance: The leading authority that 'work' requires the production of a result, excluding the mere provision/availing of standard services.
Cluster 2 — Work versus sale (contract manufacturing)
CIT v. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (2010) 324 ITR 199 (Bom)
Issue: Whether contract manufacture of pharmaceuticals to the assessee's formulation and trademark is 'work' (section 194C) or a 'sale'.
Held: It is a contract of sale where (i) property in the article passes to the customer only upon delivery and (ii) the material is purchased by the manufacturer from a person other than the customer; on those facts (principal-to-principal, own establishment, own materials) there was no obligation to deduct under section 194C.
Significance: Lays down the operative tests for the work/sale distinction, now embodied in Explanation (e) (Finance Act, 2009).
BDA Ltd. v. ITO (TDS) (2006) 281 ITR 99 (Bom)
Issue: Whether printing of labels/packing material supplied by the printer is a works contract within section 194C.
Held: The printing was incidental to the supply of the material; the transaction was a contract for sale, not a works contract, and was not liable to deduction under section 194C.
Significance: An early, frequently-followed application of the work/sale distinction to printing and supply.
Cluster 3 — Boundaries with sections 194-I, 194J and 194H
Hire/use of vehicles and plant — section 194C or section 194-I?
Principle: Where the payment is for the mere right to use a vehicle, plant or machinery, with possession and effective control passing to the hirer, the payment is 'rent' under section 194-I; where the provider retains possession and control and undertakes to carry out work (e.g. transport of goods with his own vehicle and crew as a composite obligation), the payment is for 'work' under section 194C. The enquiry is into possession, control and the dominant object.
Use: Resolves the recurring vehicle/crane/equipment-hire characterisation between sections 194C and 194-I.
Dominant-object test — section 194C versus sections 194J/194H
Principle: Characterisation turns on the substance and dominant object of the contract, not its description; a payment whose dominant character is professional/technical service falls under section 194J, and one for commission/brokerage under section 194H, even if labelled a 'contract'.
Use: Governs the frequent overlap disputes; the rate and section both follow the true nature of the payment.
Cluster 4 — Default consequences (cognate)
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (P) Ltd. v. CIT (2007) 293 ITR 226 (SC)
Principle: Where the payee has paid the tax on the income, the deductor cannot be required to pay the same tax again under section 201(1); compensatory interest under section 201(1A) runs for the period of default.
Use: Caps the deductor's exposure for short/non-deduction under section 194C (a misclassification between sections being the common cause).
GE India Technology Centre (P) Ltd. v. CIT (2010) 327 ITR 456 (SC) — cognate
Principle: TDS attaches only to a sum that is chargeable to tax under the Act.
Use: Where the payment to the contractor does not bear chargeable income, no deduction obligation arises.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; case-law citations have been web-verified. Where a section is new, narrow or substantially unlitigated, the candour rule is observed — the absence of direct authority is stated and only genuinely cognate authority is offered. This digest is for professional reference and is not a substitute for the official report of any judgment.