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TMI Blog1965 (8) TMI 66X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ) Whether, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the applicant was a dealer during the assessment period under the Act and the imposition of purchase tax on him under section 7 of the Act was in order?" 2.. The material facts are that the assessee is a building contractor and registered as a dealer under the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958. In the course of his business he is required to purchase certain goods and materials for the execution of contract works undertaken by him. As he failed to submit a return for the assessment period 1st July, 1961, to 30th September, 1961, a notice under section 18(5) of the Act in Form XVI was issued to him asking him to appear with his account books. The Sales Tax Officer found that t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... use of the word "ordinarily" in rule 33 indicates that the giving of 15 days' notice is not an invariable or a rigid rule. It may be that in a particular case a notice giving less than 15 days to the assessee may have resulted in prejudice to him. But that is not the complaint before us in this reference, and we are not called upon to answer whether the petitioner was in any way prejudiced by being required to show cause within seven days of the service of the notice. 4.. On the second question, the argument put forward on behalf of the assessee was that as during the material period his turnover was nil, the assessee could not be regarded as having carried on any business of buying, selling, supplying or distributing goods and was not, t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t by or sold by a dealer". On the construction of the definition of "dealer" given in the Hyderabad Act the Supreme Court said: "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 is 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 to 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 su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in that period. If he was a dealer and if he purchased taxable goods in the course of his business in circumstances in which no tax under section 6 of the Act was payable on the sale price of such goods, then when the other circumstances mentioned in section 7(1) existed, the assessee was clearly liable to pay purchase tax. The assessee did not cease to be a dealer merely because during the assessment period his turnover was found to be nil. The term "turnover" as defined in section 2(t) of the Act used in relation to any period means the aggregate of the amount of sale prices received and receivable by a dealer in respect of any sale or supply or distribution of goods made during that period. It does not include the aggregate amount for wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947, which defined the word as meaning "any person who, whether as principal or agent, carries on in Madhya Pradesh the business of selling or supplying goods, whether for commission, remuneration or otherwise ..........." was under consideration. It was in connection with that definition that we expressed the opinion in the two cases referred to above that the expression "carries on the business of selling or supplying goods" in the definition of "dealer" must be construed in its commercial sense and so construed it means the carrying on of continuous trading operations with a view to earn profit. We further said, "A person engaged in continuous trading operations may not actually obtain profit. He may incur a loss. B ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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