Dealer under sales tax law requires business activity in the State; a single supply contract without continuity is insufficient.

A person is a dealer under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 only if the business of buying or selling goods is carried on in the State. A solitary contract for supplying parcel vans, without business organisation, office, agency, continuity, or repetition of sales in Uttar Pradesh, did not satisfy that definition. Manufacturing activity in the State was insufficient by itself, because the provision targeted business activity in buying or selling goods. The turnover from the parcel vans was therefore not taxable in Uttar Pradesh, and liability could not be fastened on the respondents.

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Issues: Whether the respondents, on the facts found, were "dealers" within section 2(c) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 by reason of supplying parcel vans under a single contract in Uttar Pradesh and thereby carrying on the business of buying or selling goods in the State.

Analysis: The statutory definition required not merely a sale within Uttar Pradesh but the carrying on of the business of buying or selling goods in the State. The respondents had no business organisation, office, or agency in Uttar Pradesh, and the supplies arose under a single contract without repetition or continuity of sales. Manufacturing activity in the State did not itself make the respondents dealers, because the provision was concerned with business of buying or selling goods, not mere production or supply under one contract.

Conclusion: The respondents were not dealers within section 2(c) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, and the turnover from the parcel vans was not taxable in Uttar Pradesh; the finding was in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Tax liability could not be fastened on the respondents on the basis of a solitary contractual supply lacking the continuity and repetition necessary to constitute carrying on business in the State.

Ratio Decidendi: A person becomes a dealer under the charging definition only when the business of buying or selling goods is carried on in the State; a single contract for supply, without continuity or repetition, does not amount to carrying on such business.

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