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TMI Blog1967 (1) TMI 68X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he assessees are dealers in foodgrains, oil-seeds and cotton as commission agents. In the assessment proceedings the claim put forward was that in respect of certain transactions the assessee was not a "dealer" within the meaning of section 2(c) of the Act inasmuch as they had no authority to sell the goods and had acted as mere brokers bringing together the buyers and sellers and as such they were not liable to be assessed to sales tax. According to the assessees their modus operandi was that cultivators brought their goods to the assessees for finding buyers for sale and the goods were never entrusted to them for sale. Most of such transactions were completed on the very day on which the goods were brought, but in those cases where the tr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... law. Hence, this reference at the instance of the Commissioner of Sales Tax. The explanation to section 2(c) of the Sales Tax Act which defines "dealer" reads: "A factor, a broker, a commission agent or.....any other mercantile agent by whatever name called, and whether of the same description as hereinbefore mentioned or not, who carries on the business of buying or selling goods on behalf of his principals shall be deemed to be a dealer for the purposes of this Act." Subsequently, by U.P. Act 29 of 1961, the following words were added "or through whom the goods are sold". As these additional words were not present in the explanation at the relevant time it was necessary that the broker or the commission agent should be carrying on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an agent, but every agent is not a broker, ...... Whether one is an agent or broker is a question necessarily dependent on the particular facts of each case." Then again at page 10 of the Corpus Juris Secundum we find "a 'broker' is strictly speaking, a middleman or intermediate negotiator between the parties; and his duty is merely to bring the principals together to negotiate with each other for the purpose of making a contract or to find and produce a purchaser or seller able, ready and willing to accept his client's terms or to effect a transaction with his client upon any terms satisfactory to both; or, if so authorised, to make the contract of them. When acting in such capacity, he is, as explained, a common agent of both of the pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ances were obtained from banks for the sellers by pledging the stock the assessee has been held to be a dealer. The view taken by the Judge (Revisions) is a reasonable one. Nor can it be said that he has misdirected himself in directing that the assessee should not be held to be a dealer in respect of those transactions which have been completed between the buyers and sellers on the same day and the price settled with the approval of the sellers. The view that we are taking is supported by a decision of the Mysore High Court in Ayyanna Setty Sons v. State of Mysore[1961] 12 S.T.C. 731., where the facts were more or less similar to those obtaining in the present case. It was there held, that commission agents who are merely brokers who b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... v. Commissioner of Sales Tax[1963] 14 S.T.C. 646, 649. and Sarju Pd. Pritam Lal v. Judge, Revisions, Sales Tax[1963] 14 S.T.C. 884, 888. These cases, however, are distinguishable and do not assist the department. The Andhra Pradesh case on which strongest reliance was placed only needs to be considered. In that case it was found as a fact that the assessee-society maintained two sets of accounts, one a regular account and the other a clandestine account, and it used to sell jaggery in the open auction at higher prices than those fixed under the Food Control Order. In the peculiar facts found in that case it was held that the society was a dealer and the transactions were sales within the meaning of the Act. In that case the facts found were ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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