Additional place of business liability fails where evidence does not link the new concern to the registered firm.

Liability under section 4(5) of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947 arose only where a newly started concern was shown to be the same dealer's business, or a business set up by the partners of the original registered firm. The Department's material was found too tenuous to link the petitioner's concern with the existing firm, and the registration documents pointed to a separate business. In the absence of reliable evidence that both partners of the original firm were connected with the petitioner's business, the statutory condition for treating it as an additional place of business was not met, and the assessment could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner's concern could be treated as a new business or additional place of business of an existing registered dealer so as to attract liability under sub-section (5) of section 4 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947.

Analysis: Liability under section 4(5) arose only if the newly started business was established to have been set up by the same dealer or by the partners of the original registered firm. The record did not show that both partners of the existing firm were connected with the petitioner's business. The material relied upon by the Department was found too tenuous, and the registration documents pointed instead to a separate concern. In the absence of reliable evidence linking the petitioner's business with the original firm, the statutory condition for treating it as an additional place of business was not satisfied.

Conclusion: The assessment could not be sustained under section 4(5), and the petitioner's business had to be treated as an independent concern.

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