Judgment

 Patanjali Sastri, C.J.I.

[With him Mukherjea, Bose and Ghulam Hasan, JJ.]- These are appeals from an order of the High Court of Travancore-Cochin quashing the assessments severally made on the respondents in each appeal under the Travancore-Cochin General Sales-tax Act. 1124 M. E (Act No. 18 of 1124 M. E.) (hereinafter referred to as the Act).

2. The Act provided by S. 3, for the levy of a tax on the total turnover of every dealer for each year. "Turnover" is the aggregate amount for which goods are either bought of sold by a "dealer" (S. 2 (j) ), who is a person carrying on the business of buying and selling goods (S. 2 (d)). "Sale", with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, is defined as meaning, among other things, every transfer of the property in goods by one person to another in the course of trade or business for cash or for deferred payment or other valuable consideration (S. 2 (h)). The sale or purchase is to be deemed to have taken place in the State, wherever the contract might have been made, if the goods were actually in the State when the contract was made or, if the goods are actually produced in the State, at any time after the contract in