Importer as dealer under weights and measures law triggers registration, with non-registration leading to confiscation and penalty.

An importer of measuring tapes is treated as a "dealer" within the inclusive definition under the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 when the importer sells, supplies, distributes or delivers the goods to users or other persons, and is therefore required to obtain registration as an importer under section 47(1). The provision bars import of regulated weights or measures without the requisite registration, and non-registration attracts the customs consequence of confiscation of the goods and imposition of penalty. The position does not extend to a manufacturer acting in that capacity, but applies to an importer who answers the statutory definition of dealer.

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Issues: Whether an importer of measuring tapes falls within the definition of "dealer" under the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976, so as to require registration under section 47(1), and whether non-registration renders the goods liable to confiscation and the importer liable to penalty.

Analysis: Section 47(1) prohibits a dealer or manufacturer from importing or exporting any weight or measure unless registered as an importer or exporter, as the case may be. The statutory definition of "dealer" includes an importer who sells, supplies, distributes or otherwise delivers any weight or measure to any user or other person, while excluding only a manufacturer dealing in that manner. Since the importers were bringing in measuring tapes and were not manufacturers, they fell within the inclusive part of the definition and were required to obtain registration. In the absence of a registration certificate, the statutory consequence under the Customs Act was confiscation of the goods and imposition of penalty.

Conclusion: The importers were held to be dealers requiring registration, and the order of confiscation and penalty was restored; the appeal succeeded in favour of Revenue.

Final Conclusion: Non-registration by an importer of a regulated weight or measure attracts the statutory consequences prescribed under the customs law, where the importer answers the definition of dealer under the weights and measures law.

Ratio Decidendi: An importer of weights or measures who falls within the statutory definition of dealer is bound by the registration requirement, and failure to register makes the imported goods liable to confiscation and the importer liable to penalty.

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