TMI Blog1953 (3) TMI 18X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a com- mission merchant, his business consisting in selling goods which ryots took to him for sale and which he sold on their behalf. The plaintiff was at no time the owner of the goods; ownership always continued in the ryots till the goods were sold to the merchants or other purchasers. The plaint avers: "The plaintiff being a commission agent, has no title of his own and lie simply transfers the title of his principal." He was not there- fore liable to pay tax under Section 3 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act. For his trouble he used to be paid a commission both by the ryots and by the purchasers from the ryots. In addition to this commission he also used to collect customary charges like dharmam etc. The State of Madras filed a writte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the purchases and sales effected by him on behalf of the principal at his instance and such transactions do not constitute his 'turnover'." Presumably in view of that decision the plaint was drafted on the basis that the plaintiff was only a commission agent. But, by the time the suit became ripe for trial, a Full Bench of this Court had given the decision reported in Radhakrishna v. Province of Madras(2). There it was held that though a broker is only a person who is employed to make a bargain for another, and who receives a commission on the transaction and cannot be called a dealer, yet a commission agent who has custody or possession of the goods and who has authority from the owner of the goods to pass the property in and title t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erent. We do not think it necessary to examine the evidence on this point in further detail; we are fully satisfied that the conclusion (1) (1951) I.L.R. 1951 Mad. 257; 1 S.T.C. 245. (2) (1952) I.L.R. 1952 Mad. 571; 3 S.T.C. 121. arrived at by both the courts below that the plaintiff was a commission agent and not a broker is right. The second point which Mr. Umamaheswaram raised was this. The plaintiff had been given a licence under Section 8 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act for the period between 2nd February, 1945, and 31st March, 1945. In respect of this period, said Mr. Umamaheswaram, the plaintiff cannot in any way be required to pay sales tax. Here too we are not able to agree. We would first of all remark that this point has no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cipals verified and assessed where necessary." Mr. Umamaheswaram very strongly argued that the return specified in the annexure to Form No. VI, which the licensees were required to submit, had been submitted. But, on examination we find that it does not contain the really essential particulars. Mr. Umamaheswaram argued that in such a case it was the duty of the licensing authority to ask for fuller particulars and till that had been done assessment should not have been made. No doubt the Commercial Tax Officer could have called for fuller information, but that does not absolve the plaintiff from the neces- sity to comply with the conditions incorporated in his licence. His claim to immunity from tax is dependent on his fulfilling the cond ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of transactions and we have really no idea of the nature of those transactions. It has not been shown that all or in fact even one of the persons who took their groundnuts to the plaintiff had grown the groundnuts on land in which he was interested as owner, mortgagee, tenant or otherwise. It is true that the names of the persons who are alleged to have sold to or through the plaintiff appear in his books, but what their legal relationship in the lands on which the ground- nuts were grown is, we do not know. Nor again do we know that in respect of the numerous transactions entered into by the plaintiff he did not buy the groundnuts himself. It is clear that if he himself had purchased the groundnuts from the persons who took them to him an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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