Ram Singh & Sons Eng. Works v. Commissioner of Sales Tax, U.P.
Case brief
What is this about?
Works contract versus contract of sale; fabrication and erection of 3-motion electrical overhead travelling cranes; sales tax turnover, assessment year 1965-66, Uttar Pradesh; crane comes into being only on erection at site and becomes customer's property as permanently embedded in customer's land; erection fundamental and integral, single indivisible process; tests from Purshottam Premji (26 STC 38) and Man Industrial Corporation (24 STC 349) applied; Sentinel Rolling Shutters ([1979] 1 SCR 644) followed; judgment by Bhagwati J.; Civil Appeal No. 1314 of 1975 reversing Allahabad High Court S.T.R. 771 of 1972; Rs. 1,34,500 and Rs. 2,38,000 held not exigible to sales tax.
What did the court decide?
Appeal allowed by special leave; judgment of the Allahabad High Court set aside; both reference questions answered in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue (contracts held to be works contracts, amounts not liable to sales tax); State directed to pay the assessee's costs throughout.