# STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH v. ABDUL BAKHI AND BROS

- **Citation:** [1964] 7 S.C.R. 664
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1964
- **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 473 of 1963
- **Bench:** K. SuBBA RAO, J. C. Shah Ands. M. Sikri
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/state-of-andhra-pradesh-v-abdul-bakhi-and-bros-3098
- **Pages:** 4

## Headnote

Sale.• Tax-Total Turnover included price for buying tanning bark-That price
is
taxable--Dealer-Meaning of--
Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act, 1950, s. 2(c), 2(m)-Sales
Tax Rules, rr. 5-(1), 5(2).
The respondents are registered
dealers carrying on the
business of tanning hides and skins and selling the tanned
skins. The authorities under the Hyderabad General Sales Tax
Act, 1950 assessed the respondent for the total turnover which
included the price paid by the respondent for purchasing, tanning bark used in the tanning process. The respondent contended that the price paid for the purchase of trnning bark should
be excluded from -the taxable turnover because the tanning
bark was bought by the respondent for consumption and not
for sale and hence the respondent was not "dealer" qua the
•tanning bark.
His contention was not accepted by the Tax
authorities. In a petition to the High Court under s. 22(1) of
the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act the contention of the
respondent was accepted and the assessment was modified. In
appeal filed with special leave,
Held: The High Court was in error in holding that a
· purchaser is liable to pay tax under r. 5(2) of the Saks Tax
· Rules only when he is carrying on a business of buying and
. selling a commodity specified in sub-r. (2) and not when he buys
it for consumption in a process for manufacturing a commodity
to be sold by him.
(ii) To regard an activity as a business there must be a
course of dealing either actually continued or con lemplated to
be continued with a profit motive and not for sport or pieasure.
But to be a dealer a person need not follow the activity of
buying, selling and supplying the same commodity. The Act
requires merely that buying of the commodity mentioned in
r. 5(2) must be in the course of business; that is it must be
for sale or use with a view to take profit out of the integrated
activity of buying. and disposal. The commodity may itself be
converted into another saleable commodity or it may be used
as an ingredient or in p. id of a manufacturing process leading
to the production of such saleable commodity.
(iii) In the present case the tanning bark was not bought
by the respondent for any purpose unconnected with the business. Consumption of the tanning bark in the manufacturing:
process did not therefore exclude the respondents from the
definition of dealer qua the tanning hark.
Sadak Thamby and Companu v. State of Madras, 14 S.T.C.
153, approved.

## Text

1964
April 8
664
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1964]
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
v.
ABDUL BAKHI AND BROS.
[K. SuBBA RAO, J. C. SHAH ANDS. M. SIKRI, JJ.]
Sale.• Tax-Total Turnover included price for buying tanning bark-That price
is
taxable--Dealer-Meaning of--
Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act, 1950, s. 2(c), 2(m)-Sales
Tax Rules, rr. 5-(1), 5(2).
The respondents are registered
dealers carrying on the
business of tanning hides and skins and selling the tanned
skins. The authorities under the Hyderabad General Sales Tax
Act, 1950 assessed the respondent for the total turnover which
included the price paid by the respondent for purchasing, tanning bark used in the tanning process. The respondent contended that the price paid for the purchase of trnning bark should
be excluded from -the taxable turnover because the tanning
bark was bought by the respondent for consumption and not
for sale and hence the respondent was not "dealer" qua the
•tanning bark.
His contention was not accepted by the Tax
authorities. In a petition to the High Court under s. 22(1) of
the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act the contention of the
respondent was accepted and the assessment was modified. In
appeal filed with special leave,
Held: The High Court was in error in holding that a
· purchaser is liable to pay tax under r. 5(2) of the Saks Tax
· Rules only when he is carrying on a business of buying and
. selling a commodity specified in sub-r. (2) and not when he buys
it for consumption in a process for manufacturing a commodity
to be sold by him.
(ii) To regard an activity as a business there must be a
course of dealing either actually continued or con lemplated to
be continued with a profit motive and not for sport or pieasure.
But to be a dealer a person need not follow the activity of
buying, selling and supplying the same commodity. The Act
requires merely that buying of the commodity mentioned in
r. 5(2) must be in the course of business; that is it must be
for sale or use with a view to take profit out of the integrated
activity of buying. and disposal. The commodity may itself be
converted into another saleable commodity or it may be used
as an ingredient or in p. id of a manufacturing process leading
to the production of such saleable commodity.
(iii) In the present case the tanning bark was not bought
by the respondent for any purpose unconnected with the business. Consumption of the tanning bark in the manufacturing:
process did not therefore exclude the respondents from the
definition of dealer qua the tanning hark.
Sadak Thamby and Companu v. State of Madras, 14 S.T.C.
153, approved.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 473
of 1963.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and
order March 22, 1960, of the Andhra Pradesh High Court
in Tax Revision Case No. 88 of 1960.
A. Ranganadham Chetty, B. R. G. K. Achar and R. N.
Sachthey, for the appellant.
The respondent did not appear.
7 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT HEPOH'l'S
6()5
April 8. 1964. The Judgment of the Court was delivered
by
SHAH, J.-The respondents who are registered as dealers
under the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act. 1950 carry on
the business of tannin2 hides and skins and of selling the
tanneJ skins in the town of Hyderabad. For the purposes bf
their business the respondents purchase undressed hides am!
skins and also tanning bark and other materials required in
their tannery. For the- assessment year 1954-55 the Sales-tax
Officer, Circle IV, Hyderabad. found that the total turnover
of the respondents was Rs. 5,70,417-12-4 (0.S.) in respect of
the hides, skins, wool and tanning bark. The respondents
disputed their liability to pay tax on Rs. 6 J ,431-14-9 (O.S.1
included .in the turnover contending that this amount represented the price paid for buying tanning bark required in
their tannery. They submitted that tanning bark was bought
for consumption in the tannery and not for sale, and they
were accordingly not dealers in tanning bark and therefore
the price paid for buying tanning bark was not liable to duty
under the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act. The Sales-tax
Officer rejected the contention of the respondents. and his
order was confirmed in appeal by the Deputy Commissioner.
C. T .. Hyderabad Division and also by the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal. Hyderabad. But the High
Court of Andhra
Pradesh in a petition under s. 22(1) read with rule 40 framed under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act VII ol'
1957 modified the order passed by the taxing authorities and
excluded from the computation of the taxable turnover the
price paid by the respondents for the tanning b::.rk used in
the tannery. With special leave, the State of Andhra Pradesh
bas appealed to this Court.
Section 2(e) of the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act
defines "dealer" as meaning any person. local authority. company, firm, Hindu undivided family or any association or
associatibns of persons engaged in the
l;usiness of buying.
selling or supplying goods in the Hyderabad State whether
for a commission, remuneration or otherwise and includes a
State Government which carries on such business and anv
society. club or association which buys or sells or supplies
goods to its members. Section 2(m)
defines
"turnover" as
meaning an aggregate amount for which goods are either
bou~ht by or sold by a dealer, whether for a cash or for deferred payment or other valuable consideration. By. s. 4 a
tax at the rate of three pies in the rupee in T. G. currency on
so much of the turnover for the year as is attributable to
transactions in goods other than exempted goods is imposed.
Rule 5(1) provides that save as provided in sub-rule i2l the
turno,·er of a dealer for the purpose of the rules shall be the
amount for which goods are sold by the dele:ir. Rule 5(21
provides that in the case of certain commodities the turnover
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1964
Bkdeof
Andkra Pradesli
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Brofhtrs
Shah, J.
666
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1964]
of a dealer for the purpose of the rules shall be the amount
for which the goods are bought by the dealer. Those commodities are : -
(a) Groundnut (shelled or unshelled);
(b) Bidi leaves;
(c) Tarwar and other tanning barks;
(d) Tit; karad and castor seed;
(e) Cotton including kappas;
(f)
Linseed, turmeric, dhania and other agricultural
produce including all kinds of dhals and paddy
(husked or unhusked)
not otherwise exempted
under the said Act, but excluding cotton seed,
sugarcane, tea and coffee seeds;
(g) Hides and skins;
(h) Wool, bones and horns.
The High Court of Andhra Pradesh rejected the claim
of the taxing authories to tax the tanning bark bought by
the respondents on the ground that a purchaser is liable to
pay tax under Rule 5(2) only when he is carrying on business
of buying and selling a commodity specified in the sub-rule
(2) and not when he buys it for consumption in a process for
manufacturing an article to be sold by him. Therefore, in
the view of the High Court if a dealer buys any commodity
included in Rule 5(2) for consumption in his business but
not for sale, he is not to be regarded as engaged in the business of buying, selling or supplying that commodity and the
price paid for buying the commodity is not liable to tax.
We are unable to agree with this view of the High Court.
A person to be a dealer must be engaged in the business of
buying or selling or supplying goods. The expression "business" though extensively used a word of indefinite import, in
taxing statutes it is used in the sense of an occupation, or
profession which occupies the time, attention and labour of a
person, normally with the object of making profit. To regard
an activity as business there must be a course of dealings,
either actually continued or contemplated tb be continued
with a profit motive, and not for sport or pleasure. But to be
a dealer a person need not follow the activity of buying
selling and supplying the same commodity. Mere buying for
personal consumption i.e. without a profit motive will not
make a person, dealer within the meaning of the Act, but a
person who consumes a commodity bought by him in the
wurse of his trade, br use in manufacturing another commodity for sale, would be regarded as a dealer. The Legislature
has not made sale of the very article bought by a person a
condition for treating him as a dealer: the definition merely
requires that the buying of the commodity mentioned in Rule
5(2) must he in the course of business, i.e. must be for sale
7 S.C.R.
SUPRE'.\IE COURT REPORTS
667
or use with a view to make profit out of the integrated activity of buying and disposal. The commodity may itself be converted into another saleable commodity, or it may be used
as an ingredient or in aid of a manufacturing process leading
to the production of such saleable commodity.
It cannot be said in the present case that the tanning
bark was bought by the respondent for any purpose unconnected with the business carried on by them, viz .. manufacture and sale of dressed hides and skins. Consumption in the
business and not sale of the commodity bought therefore
does not exclude the respondents from the definition of dealer
a11a the tanning bark. This is the view which has, in our
judgment, been rightly taken by the Madras Hight Court in
the int,erpretation of a similar statute in operation in the
State of Madras in L.M.S. Sadak Tliamby and Compa1n· v.
The State of Madras(').
The appeal is therefore allowed and the order passed by
the High Court is set aside and order passed by the Sales-tax
Appellate Tribunal restored. No order as to costs.
Appeal dismissed.
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