TMI Blog1986 (8) TMI 417X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he appellant were carried on with a profit-motive. In the end, inasmuch as the appeals before it were concerned with the years 1965-66 to 1967-68 having regard to the lapse of time the court, while allowing the appeals and quashing the assessments, did not think it fit to remand the cases for fresh assessment proceedings. - Civil Appeal No. 2815, C.A. 2816, 2817, 2818, 2819 of 1977, - - - Dated:- 5-8-1986 - PATHAK R.S. AND SABYASACHI MUKHARJI JJ. O.P. Sharma, Senior Advocate (L.K. Gupta and Miss A. Subhashini, Advocates, with him, for the appellant. S.T. Desai, Senior Advocate (J.D. Jain, Ms. Kawaljit Kochar, Advocates, with him), for the respondents. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s Tax Act, 1948. The excise and taxation authorities took the view that the appellant was not a dealer because the transactions conducted by it did not include an element of profit. By a letter dated July 15, 1957, the appellant was informed by the Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, that it need not be registered under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act. On August 21, 1968, the Excise and Taxation Officer, Karnal, took note of a decision of this Court in Deputy Commercial Tax Officer v. Enfield India Ltd. Co- operative Canteen [1968] 21 STC 317 (SC) and called upon the appellant to produce its account books for the years 1965-66, 1966-67 and 1967-68 for the purpose of assessment to sales tax on the medical stores and equipment suppli ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s that the appellant is not a dealer because the activity carried on by it is pursued without any motive of earning profit and, therefore, it cannot be described as a business. It is pointed out that the definition of the word "dealer" in section 2(d) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act is different from the definition of that word in section 2(c) of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act. While the Haryana Act states that a person is a dealer whether or not he is inspired by a profit-motive in carrying on his business, no such statement is contained in the definition under the Punjab Act. It is urged that these appeals are governed by the Punjab General Sales Tax Act and not by the Haryana General Sales Tax Act. When the Punjab General Sale ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t Act which operated retrospectively with effect from September 7, 1955. The present appeals are concerned with the assessment years 1964-65 to 1968-69, and the question is whether they are governed by the definition of the word "dealer" in section 2(d) of the Punjab Act or by section 2(c) of the Haryana Act. During that period section 2(d) of the Punjab Act, in its application to the State of Haryana, defined the word "dealer" as follows: "Section 2. (d) 'Dealer' means any person including a department of Government who in the normal course of trade sells or purchases any goods that are actually delivered for the purpose of consumption in the State of Haryana irrespective of the fact that the main place of business of such person is ou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the expressions defined by that section are the expressions as used in the Haryana Act. Wherever, the word "dealer" is used in the Haryana Act, one must turn to the definition contained in section 2(c) of that Act. Now, except for a few specified provisions, the Haryana General Sales Tax Act came into force on May 5, 1973. Section 6, its charging provision, commenced to operate from that date. Section 6(1) of the Haryana Act declares that the first year of which the turnover is liable to tax under that Act is the year "immediately preceding the commencement of this Act". It is obvious that section 6 does not govern the assessment years which are the subject of these appeals. Therefore, it is immaterial for our purposes that the definit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eral Sales Tax Act will be deemed to have been done or taken in the exercise of the powers conferred by or under the provisions of the Haryana Act as if that Act was in force on the date on which such thing was done or action taken. This merely refers to the provisions enacted for the purpose of enforcing the liability and realising the tax, and does not affect the position that the charge is under section 4 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, and to appreciate who the "dealer" mentioned therein is, one must turn to section 2(d) of the Punjab Act. It will be noticed that the definition of the word "dealer" in section 2(d) of the Punjab Act does not treat the existence of a profit-motive in the business as an immaterial factor. In Governm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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