Return filing duty through commission sales remains binding; failure to file attracts liability under sales tax law.

A dealer who manufactured and consigned goods for sale through a commission agent remained under an independent statutory duty to file the prescribed return. The selling arrangement did not change the substance of the transaction, and inclusion of the sales in another dealer's turnover did not extinguish that duty; at most, the return could have been shown as nil. Failure to submit the return therefore amounted to a contravention of Section 15(a) of the General Sales Tax Act, and the conviction was upheld.

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Issues: Whether a person who manufactured and consigned goods for sale through a commission agent was bound to submit the prescribed return and, on failure to do so, was liable to conviction under Section 15(a) of the General Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The obligation to file the return arose from the fact that the petitioner carried on sales of goods, even though the sales were effected through a commission agent. The form of the selling arrangement did not alter the substance of the transaction, and inclusion of the transactions in another dealer's turnover did not extinguish the petitioner's independent statutory duty to file his own return. Even if the return could have been shown as nil on the footing that the transactions were assessed in the hands of another, the duty to submit the return still remained.

Conclusion: The petitioner was bound to submit the return, the omission constituted a contravention of Section 15(a) of the General Sales Tax Act, and the conviction was upheld.

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