9911796707
TMI Blog1988 (6) TMI 320X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of newspapers which remained unsold on the dates of their publication. These were brought to tax by the assessing authority under section 5(1) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, which was questioned by the assessee. Two contentions were urged before the Tribunal, viz., (i) that even the unsold newspapers, i.e., back number copies of newspapers, are also "newspapers" and, therefore, not exigible to tax; and (ii) that even if the back number copies of newspapers are not exempt from tax, still no tax can be levied inasmuch as the assessee is not a "dealer" and also because its main business is not taxable. Since the main business is not taxable, the sale of surplus newspapers as waste paper is merely incidental to the main bus ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of "business" in clause (bbb) of section 2 of the Andhra Pradesh Act. It was held in the said decision that the transactions of sale of surplus copies of newspapers must be regarded as the business carried on by the publisher, and that it was an activity which it pursued regularly with a profit making motive. It was, further observed that "it was incidental to the business carried on by the appellant of printing and publishing newspapers." Mr. Dasaratharama Reddi, however, contended that before the Supreme Court it was not urged that inasmuch as the publisher is not a "dealer" and also because its main activity is not taxable, the incidental activity is equally exempt from tax. He says, this is the principle recognized by this Court i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... owever, recognized that if the business carried on is not an integral part of the main activity but an incidental or ancillary one, it may become taxable. We may also state that the correctness of the decision in A.P. State Road Transport Corporation v. Commercial Tax Officer [1971] 27 STC 42 (AP) was doubted by another Bench of this Court in W.P. No. 5189 of 1977, dated 9th February, 1981. Board of Trustees of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust v. Commercial Tax Officer [1979] 43 STC 36 (AP) was a case where the question was whether the income derived by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust on account of supply of water to visiting vessels, bunkering of visiting vessels with liquid fuel, offering of tender documents for a consideration to prospective ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... it may be called, as held by the Supreme Court, which reasoning is also binding upon us. It is not as if the sale of such surplus or unsold newspapers is an integral part of the petitioner's business, in which case the principle of the decision in Base Repair Organisation v. State of A.P. [1983] 53 STC 223 (AP) will apply. Since the said activity is merely incidental to the main business, it is taxable. The fact that the petitioner is not registered as a dealer makes no difference to the exigibility to tax. It may be that having regard to the relevant statute, a Housing Board cannot be held to be carrying on business; but the same cannot be said with respect to the main activity of the petitionerand that is the distinction. In this connecti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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