Judgment

SHAH, J. : I regret my inability to agree with the view expressed by Ramaswami, J.

2. Section 2 (c) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, defines a "dealer" as meaning "any person who carries on the business of selling goods in West Bengal and as including the Government".

3. The Government of India set up a organisation - the Directorate of Disposals (United States Transfer Directorate) - to dispose of war equipment taken over by them from the American forces after the Second World War. This organisation had several branches under its control. A part of the equipment was appropriated by the Government of India to their own use; some equipment was sold to the State Government and other autonomous bodies; and the rest was sold to the public. The taxing authorities held that the Directorate was a dealer within the meaning of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 and the High Court of Calcutta in a reference made under S. 21 (3) agreed with that view.

4. It is common ground that the Government of India paid no consideration for acquiring the equipment: they merely set up an organisation to dispose of the equipment. It is not, and cannot be, argued that because the Gover