Sales tax liability depends on statutory dealer status within the State, not on non-residence or lack of local business premises.

Liability to sales tax depended on whether the assessee answered the statutory description of a dealer carrying on business within the State, not on non-residence or the absence of a local place of business or agent. The Court accepted the finding that the contracts of sale were entered into in Fort Cochin and held that, on those facts, the assessee carried on the business of selling goods within the State. The definition of "dealer" in section 2 was wide enough to include him, and Explanation (2) did not exclude the principal from liability merely because an agent might also be treated as a dealer. The assessment was therefore upheld.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was liable to sales tax under the Madras General Sales Tax Act as a dealer carrying on business within the State, notwithstanding that he was a non-resident foreigner with no place of business or agent in the State.

Analysis: The finding that contracts of sale were entered into in Fort Cochin was supported by evidence and was not displaced by the pleadings. The controlling question was not the assessee's residence, but whether he answered the statutory description of a dealer. On the facts found, he carried on the business of selling goods within the State, and the statutory definition of dealer in section 2 was wide enough to include him. Explanation (2) did not exclude the principal from liability merely because an agent, if any, was also treated as a dealer.

Conclusion: The assessee was rightly treated as a dealer and was liable to the assessment. The decision was against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the statutory definition brought the assessee within the taxing net, and his non-residence did not prevent liability to sales tax.

Ratio Decidendi: For sales tax purposes, liability turns on whether the assessee carries on business as a dealer within the State under the statutory definition, and not on residence or the absence of a local place of business alone.

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