The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of the term 'dealer' under the Sales Tax Act and the application of provisions related to the maintainability of the suit and the determination of dealer status.

Manohar Lall, J.

1. In this appeal by the plff. whose suit has been dismissed by the Additional Subordinate Judge of Darbhanga, the two questions for decisions are whether the suit is maintainable & whether the appellant is a "dealer" within the meaning of the Sales Tax Act (The Bihar Act IV (4) of 1944) hereafter to be called the Act.

2. Except as to whether the plff. is a dealer within the meaning of the Act, the facts are not in dispute. The plff. Raja Visheshwar Singh Bahadur is the proprietor of Rajnagar Estate in the district of Darbhanga & possesses extensive zirat fields on which he grows grains like paddy, khesari, wheat & gram besides sugar-cane. After meeting the personal requirements of himself, his family & his large staff, a portion of the excess, which is not required to be stored for consumption, is sold. The cause of action for the suit was that in February 1945, the Sales Tax Officer of Darbhanga, served the plff. with a notice that he should get himself registered as a dealer under the Act, but the plff. denied that he was a dealer within the meaning of the Act. The Superintendent of Commercial Taxes, Darbhanga, Circle, however, called upon the plff. to produce the papers by his notice dated 1-6-1945, apparently under Section 9 of the Act. The plff. again denied his liability to furnish the returns or produce the papers, & accordingly the plff. served a notice dated 20-6-1945 on the deft., who is the Province of Bihar, requesting the Superintendent for the withdrawal of the aforesaid notice. As the Sales Tax Officers appeared to be unwilling to withdraw the notice, the plff. instituted the suit giving rise to this appeal on 7-9-1945 for the following reliefs: that a declaration be made in the plffs favour that he is not a dealer under the Sales Tax Act & so need not get himself registered under the Act & is not liable to assessment of Sales Tax; & that a permanent injunction be granted restraining the deft, from ever proceeding with the assessment & realising any tax under the Sales Tax Act from the plff. The suit was valued at Rs. 5001/-.

3. The defts contention was that the suit was not maintainable & was barred under the provisions of the Act & the Civil Court had no jurisdiction to try it, & further that the deft. was a dealer within the meaning of the Act.

4. The learned Subordinate Judge has come to the contusion that the suit was maintainable because no order had yet been passed by the Sales Tax Officer which could be called an order under the Act. Upon a consideration of the evidence adduced he held that the plff. was a dealer because the sale or supply has grown into a profession -- the learned Subordinate Judge does not say the sale or supply of which of the agricultural produce he has in mind, but apparently he is thinking of sugarcane which was sold to the Lohat Sugar Mill & Sakri Sugar Mill to the value of Rs. 72,000 in 1943-44 & Rs. 50,000 in 1944-45. The only evidence adduced in the case is that of the accountant of the plff. who also stated that paddy, khesari, wheat & gram are also sold by the plff., & more than Rs. 5000.00 worth of these articles were sold in 1351 & 1352 fasli, & also in previous & subsequent years.

5. The learned Subordinate Judge on these findings has dismissed the suit & hence this appeal to this Court.

6. The first question which I propose to consider is whether the suit is maintainable.

7. The principle upon which the extent of jurisdiction of a Court with limited powers is to be determined has been laid down in the leading case of Queen V/s. Special Commissioners of Income Tax, (1888) 2 Tax Cas 332. The oft quoted & frequently followed observations of Esher, M. R. may be usefully reproduced :

"When an inferior Court, or an inferior tribunal, or an inferior body which is trusted by the Legislature to come to a decision on facts is constituted by Act of Parliament for the first time, the Legislature has to consider what power it will give to those persons. It ma