Commercial activity by a trust can constitute business where regular public sales are independent of its charitable objects.

A trust's manufacture and sale of sweetmeats and farsan was treated as a separate commercial operation, not merely incidental or ancillary to its charitable objects. Although the statutory definitions of "business" and "dealer" were wide, the decisive factor was that the sales were regular, continuous, and substantial, and were made to the general public on an open-market basis. Because the activity was independent of the trust's main charitable purpose, it constituted "business" under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959. The trust was therefore a dealer liable to registration and tax under the Act.

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Issues: Whether the trust's activity of manufacturing and selling sweetmeats and farsan was a "business" within section 2(5A) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 and whether, on that basis, the trust was a "dealer" liable to registration and tax under the Act.

Analysis: The statutory definitions of "business" and "dealer" are wide, but a charitable object does not by itself make every connected activity business. The decisive question was whether the manufacture and sale activity was merely incidental or ancillary to the trust's main charitable objects, or whether it was an independent commercial undertaking. The trust's objects did not include open-market manufacture and sale of sweetmeats and farsan on a large scale. The material on record showed sales to the general public, conducted regularly, continuously, and in substantial volume, with receipts from such sales vastly exceeding donations and interest income. On those facts, the activity was not treated as a mere means of advancing the charitable objects, but as a distinct commercial operation.

Conclusion: The activity of manufacture and sale of sweetmeats and farsan was held to be a business activity, and the trust was held to be a dealer liable to registration and tax under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959.

Final Conclusion: The Reference was answered against the trust and the writ petition did not survive.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a trust carries on a separate, regular, and large-scale commercial activity for sale to the public, that activity is business within the sales tax law even if the surplus is applied to charitable objects, and the trust is a dealer if the activity is not merely incidental or ancillary to its main charitable purpose.

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