KANDULA RADHAKRISHNA RAO Vs. PROVINCE OF MADRAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals nave been posted before a Full Bench because of a conflict of opinion between Division Benches of this Court ('Province of Madras v. Firm of Kani-Golla Sivalakshminarayana', ILR (1850) Mad 421 and 'Provincial Government of Madras v. Veerabhadrafpa', ILR (1951) Mad 257) on the interpretation of some of the provisions of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, Madras Act IX of 1939. All these appeals arise out of suits filed for the recovery of amounts of sales tax alleged to have been illegally levied from the respective plaintiffs. Appeals Nos. 365, 468 and 551 of 1947 arise out of three original suits Nos. 12, 33 and 34 of 1946 which were disposed of by a common judgment by the learned District Judge of West Godavari at Ellore. All these suits were dismissed and the plaintiffs are the appellants before us. App. No. 447 of 1947 is from the decree dismissing O. S. No. 37 of 1945. This suit was disposed of by the same learned Judge who disposed of the three first mentioned suits. O. S. No. 93 of 1948 from which App. No. 641 of 1947 is the appeal was tried by another Judge, the learned Subordinate Judge of Ellore, who took a view different from that of the learned District Judge of West Godavari and decreed the suit. Hence the State of Madras is the appellant in this appeal. In all the appeals, common Questions of law arise. Before these points are discussed, it is necessary to set out in brief the salient facts in these cases which have a material bearing on the questions which fall for decision, But even before this it will be helpful to refer to the main provisions of the Madras General Sales Tax Act.

(2.) The object of the Act is to provide for the levy of a general tax on the sale of goods in the Province of Madras. The following definitions in Section 2 of the Act are important. Section 2(b) defines a dealer as meaning any person who carries on the-business of buying or selling goods. Sale is defined in Clause (H) thus:

(3.) The plaintiffs in all the suits carry on independent business of their own and also commission business. Every one of them has obtained a licence under Section 8 of the Act. The licences granted to them are in the following form :