Taxable turnover includes incidental sale of office assets when the transaction is connected to the dealer's business activity.

Under the enlarged statutory definition of "business" in the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, a sale need not be driven by profit motive to fall within taxable turnover if it is incidental to, ancillary to, or connected with the dealer's business. The sale of an office-use Ambassador car by a dealer in automobiles was treated as sufficiently linked to the business activity, so its sale price was includible in taxable turnover. The absence of direct profit motive did not take the transaction outside the tax net.

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Issues: Whether the sale price of an Ambassador car purchased for office use and later sold was includible in the assessee's taxable turnover under the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958.

Analysis: The enlarged definition of "business" inserted by the amendment excluded profit motive as a necessary element and brought within its scope transactions in connection with, or incidental or ancillary to, trade, commerce or manufacture. The sale of discarded or surplus assets may still fall within business where the disposal is connected with the dealer's business activity. Applying the Supreme Court's approach to unserviceable or scrap sales, the Court held that the assessee, being a dealer in automobiles, sold the office car in a transaction sufficiently connected with and ancillary to its business, and the absence of direct profit motive did not take the sale outside the taxable net.

Conclusion: The sale price of the Ambassador car was includible in the assessee's taxable turnover, and the reference was answered against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Under an enlarged statutory definition of "business", a sale of a fixed or office-use asset is taxable if it is incidental to, ancillary to, or connected with the dealer's business, even though the transaction is not motivated by profit.

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