TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1966 (1) TMI 73
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....e assessee's objection was that it being a casual sale and not in the course of his business, should not count within the taxing definition. His contention was accepted by the Board of Revenue though It had failed before the appellate authority. It is against that that the department wanted the reference to be made to this Court. There is no dispute that the line of business of the assessee did not include the disposal or sale of machineries. It was a solitary transaction and the question is whether that will be included as a sale in the turnover of the assessee. The definition of "dealer" as given in the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947, in sub-clause (c) of section 2 was, before the Bihar Finance Act, 1950, came into operation, as follows: " ....
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.... words, learned counsel's argument is that a single transaction of sale on the part of a person, if the sale price exceeds the limit provided in the Act, will bring him within the mischief of the definition of dealer and will expose him to the levy of sales tax. The preamble of the Bihar Finance Act, 1950, was: "Whereas it is expedient to amend the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947, and the Bihar Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1948, to levy a tax on passengers and goods carried by public service vehicles and public carriers, and to lay down rates of sales tax payable under the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947, to fix the limit of taxable agricultural income and to lay down rates of agricultural income-tax and super-tax chargeable under the Bihar Agricult....
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....re expressions which had a recognised meaning in general law under the Contract Act and the Sale of Goods Act. When item 54 was incorporated in List II of Schedule VII of the Constitution (Taxes on the sale or purchase of goods other than newspapers) that has to be understood in that meaning to define the legislative powers of the State in that respect. But when an enactment is made by the State to provide for levy of such taxes, it is open to the State Legislature to say whether all "sales" or particular kind of "sales " will be taxed. In the original Act (Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947) only those kinds of sales that may comprise "a business of selling" were made taxable by the definition of "dealer" who came within the charging section. If th....
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....ry, not its full but a reduced extent of meaning, to reconcile that with the other provisions in the same enactment. The rule of harmonious construction is beyond question. If other relevant provisions of the Act, where "business of selling" was referred, were left unamended by the Finance Act, 1950, there will be a mass of anomaly in the working of the statute, in case "any person who sells" in the definition is not taken in a reduced scope limiting it to the "business of selling". The provisions under sections 9, 13 and 19 still refer to "business ". The different forms prescribed by this Act, e. g., those printed at pages 61, 64, 66, 68, 71, 72 and 73 of the Bihar Commercial Taxes Manual, Volume II (1954 Edition), also refer to "business....
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....ent will ordinarily control the meaning of the amending provisions. Any repugnancy in the amending statute will yield to the essential and central stream in the original Act. The original definition of "dealer" needed redrafting in the Finance Act, 1950, as the sale or supply of goods in the execution of a contract and the sale or supply of goods by the Government were sought to be brought into the taxing area. These two new elements were not included in the original definition. Gradually the Government in a welfare State is engaging itself more and more in business like any private citizen or association of citizens. That may have necessitated the change. The change was obviously in regard to other groups of persons, like those engaged in ....