TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1971 (9) TMI 161
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....of 1967. The petitioner before the High Court is M/s. Cement Allocation Co-ordinating Organization, a selling agent of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. That Organization will be hereinafter referred to as the "assessee". On February 28, 1967, the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Lalgudi, wrote to the assessee to show cause why its turnover relating to the price of the packing materials used in packing the cement sold should not be included in its taxable turnover. The assessee instead of showing cause against that proposal moved the High Court of Madras under article 226 of the Constitution to direct the assessing authority not to include that turnover in its taxable turnover. The High Court entertained that writ petition. It would have been prop....
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....thus: "The petition is allowed but with no costs. We may, however, add that the order we have made in this petition does not in any way prevent the assessing authority from examining the question, after giving a fresh notice, whether the principal himself would be disentitled to exclusion of the value of the packing materials in determining the chargeable turnover." It is against this order that the State of Madras has come up in appeal to this court. The charging section under the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959, is section 3. It brings to tax all taxable turnover of a dealer as defined in the Act. The expression "dealer" is defined in section 2(g). Because of section 2(g)(iii) a commission agent is also considered as a "dealer" for ....
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....er the legal position in other respects. Excepting to the extent otherwise provided in the Madras General Sales Tax Act the agent must be held to represent his principal while dealing with the goods of his principal; he merely steps into the shoes of his principal. He is entitled to the same exemptions as his principal would have got had he dealt with the concerned goods himself. Agents are considered as dealers under the Act so as to effectively enforce the provisions of the Act. But that provision does not convert an agent into a principal for all purposes under the Act. But the question whether the principal is entitled to the exemption claimed has been left open by the High Court. That question has to be decided after going into the fa....
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....d cheap vehicle of transport. He may also have to consider the question whether, when a trader in cigarettes sold cigarettes priced at a particular figure for a specified number and handed them over to a customer in a cheap cardboard container of insignificant value, he intended to sell the cardboard container and the customer intended to buy the same? It is not possible to state as a proposition of law that whenever particular goods were sold in a container the parties did not intend to sell and buy the container also. Many cases may be visualized where the container is comparatively of high value and sometimes even higher than that contained in it. Scent or whisky may be sold in costly containers. Even cigarettes may be sold in silver or ....