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TMI Blog1970 (9) TMI 100X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of bricks which the assessee is alleged to have sold to its members during the assessment year in question. The case of the assessee throughout has been that a brick-kiln had been set up not with the funds of the assessee-society but with the contributions made by some members, who wanted bricks for the construction of their houses and that the society merely acted in a supervisory capacity and distributed the bricks to its members after they had been prepared without charging any profit or commission. The Sales Tax Officer disregarded the plea of the assessee and passed an assessment order against the assessee levying sales tax on the turnover of bricks. On appeal the appellate authority annulled the assessment order taking the view that t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cordingly directed the Judge (Revisions) under section 11(4) of the Act to submit a definite statement as to whether the assessee was a society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912, or under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, or under both. In the supplementary statement submitted by the Judge (Revisions) it has now been definitely stated that the society was registered under the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912. The second point upon which the supplementary statement was called for by the Bench was as to the source of investment in the manufacture of bricks. In the supplementary statement the Judge (Revisions) has stated that there is no material on the record to show as to whether some of the members of the society on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as taken place in the course of business of buying and selling carried on by the person concerned. In the joint Commercial Tax Officer, Madras v. The Young Men's Indian Association (Regd.), Madras[1970] 26 S.T.C. 241 (S.C.); [1970] 1 S.C.C. 462., the Supreme Court had to decide the question as to whether the assessee which was a registered club was liable to sales tax on the supplies made by it to its members of eatables and beverages. In that case, it was found that the club provided certain facilities to its members one of which was a mess together with a canteen which supplied to its members eatables and beverages. The employees of the club used to purchase the various articles required for supplying the refreshments etc., and the cost ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Officer, Sector Ill, Lucknow. Paragraph 3 of that letter reads: "That the expenses incurred in running the brick-kiln were rateably contributed by its members and according to the supply of bricks to the members, which is apparent from the fact that the members had already made their respective contributions for meeting the expenses of the kiln long before it actually started." The Sales Tax Officer in the assessment order dated 31st July, 1961, has noticed this plea as is apparent from the following extract from the assessment order: "On the date of hearing Sri Rameshwar Misra, Honorary Secretary, attended and stated that the society was not liable to pay sales tax because it was running in accordance with its bye-laws and it did no bu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e (Revisions) appears to be that the society maintains accounts in respect of the manufacture and distribution of bricks as also all the amounts realised from the various members in respect of the supplies made to them. This fact, in our opinion, cannot be taken to be decisive of the position that the assessee was a dealer and the transactions in dispute were transactions of sale. In fact the course adopted by the assessee-society in maintaining accounts is not inconsistent with its plea that the funds for the venture were provided by the members. The assesseesociety was bound to maintain accounts because it had to render accounts to the respective members and had also to work out the cost in order to fix the price of the bricks which was t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... [1970] 26 S.T.C. 241 (S.C.); [1970] 1 S.C.C. 462. In a recent decision of the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Sales Tax, M.P. v. Purshottam Premji[1970] 26 S.T.C. 38 (S.C.); [1970] 2 S.C.C. 287., it has been held that before a transaction can be considered to be a sale, there must be a transfer of property in goods and without a transfer there cannot be any sale, and since the ballast was never the property of the assessee there was no question of his transferring any property to the South Eastern Railway. The case of Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Saidapet, Madras, and Another v. Enfield India Ltd. Co-operative Canteen Ltd.[1968] 21 S.T.C. 317 (S.C.). is clearly distinguishable. That was also a case of a co-operative society registered u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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