Mere dispatch of goods and bank collection do not establish business presence within the State for dealer liability.

Mere dispatch of goods into Uttar Pradesh from Calcutta and collection of sale proceeds through banks did not amount to carrying on business within the State. Where the assessee had no shop, office, or representative in Uttar Pradesh, and the sale was completed outside the State, ancillary banking activity for realisation of price was only incidental to the transaction. The statutory definition of a dealer required carrying on the business of buying or selling goods within Uttar Pradesh, which was not satisfied on these facts. The assessee was therefore not treated as a dealer liable to assessment in the State.

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Issues: Whether the assessee, on the admitted mode of conducting sales through dispatch from Calcutta and collection of price through banks, could be treated as carrying on business activity within Uttar Pradesh so as to be a dealer liable to assessment.

Analysis: The assessee had no shop, office, or representative in Uttar Pradesh and the goods were ordered from Calcutta and executed there. The railway receipts were negotiated through bankers only for realisation of the sale price, and that activity was merely incidental to the sale transaction. Mere supply of goods into Uttar Pradesh and recovery of price there did not amount to carrying on business in the State. The bank's role, even if accepted as an agency for collection, did not establish that the assessee was carrying on the business of selling goods in Uttar Pradesh. The statutory meaning of a dealer under section 2(c) required carrying on the business of buying or selling goods within the State, which was not satisfied on these facts.

Conclusion: The assessee was not a dealer carrying on business within Uttar Pradesh and was not liable to assessment on that basis.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered in favour of the assessee, and the remaining questions were left unanswered as academic.

Ratio Decidendi: Ancillary activities such as dispatch of goods and collection of sale proceeds through a bank do not amount to carrying on business within the State unless there is active business presence or trade promotion by the dealer or its agent in that State.

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