Brijesh Kumar, J. - (1.) In this bunch of writ petitions, the petitioner, namely, the Food Corporation of India, who claims to perform governmental function for the purposes of constituting national pool of foodgrains, objects to the levy of purchase tax by the State of U.P. under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948. The different writ petitions relate to different assessment years. However, since according to learned counsel for the petitioner, points raised and argued are common, covering all the petitions, we propose to dispose of all the petitions by this judgment.
(2.) The Food Corporation of India is a "dealer" as defined under Section 2(c) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, which reads as follows : (c) 'dealer' means any person who carries on in Uttar Pradesh (whether regularly or otherwise) the business of buying, selling, supplying or distributing goods directly or indirectly, for cash or deferred payment or for commission, remuneration or other valuable consideration and includes( i) a local authority, body corporate, company, any co-operative society or other society, club, firm, Hindu undivided family or other association of persons which carries on such business; (iii) ... (iv) a Government which, whether in the course of business or otherwise buys, sells, supplies or distributes goods, directly or otherwise for cash or for deferred payment or for commission, remuneration or other valuable consideration; (v) ... (vi) ...
(3.) The word "business" has been defined in Clause (aa) of Section 2 as follows: 2. (aa) 'business', in relation to business of buying or selling goods, includes :( i) any trade, commerce or manufacture, or any adventure or concern in the nature of trade, commerce or manufacture, whether or not such trade, commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern is carried on with a motive to make profit and whether or not any profit accrues from such trade, commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern; and (ii) ... but does not include any activity in the nature of mere service or profession which does not involve the purchase or sale of goods.;