# COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX, GUJARAT v. M/S. SABARMATI RETI UDYOG SAHAKARI MANDALI LTD

- **Citation:** [1976] Supp. 1 S.C.R. 158
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1976-04-26
- **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 1512 of 1971
- **Bench:** R Khanna, P. K. Goswami
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/commissioner-of-sales-tax-gujarat-v-m-s-sabarmati-reti-udyog-sahakari-mandali-7101
- **Pages:** 8

## Headnote

Sales Tax-Works contract for manufacture and supply .of kiln burnt bricks
-Bricks .tnanufactured and supplied according to
contract and payment
received-Contract whereby land is given free and the right to sell to third
parties is subject to restrictions-Whether there is a transfer of chattel for
co11sideration-Co11tract whether liable to sales tax on bricks supplied-Bombay
Sales Tax A.ct. 1959.
Contract of sale and contract for ·work and labour-Distinction--Beneficial
~..,·elf are features in a contract do not negate the concept of a contract of sale.
The respondent manufactured and supplied kiln burnt bricks to the appellant
as per the works contract dated 8/9th December, 1970, which provided (i)
that land would be given free; (ii) that the material shall remain at the
contractor's risk till the date of final delivery; and (iii) that the. contractor
had a right to sell to the third parties bricks subject to payn1ent of 10%
of the value of materials at the tender rates of the appellant. ·The respondent
\Vas assessed to sales tax under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, on the
basis that'" these supplies were sales. The Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax
on an application under s. 52 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act held the supplies
as sales. On appeal the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal confirmed it, following
the ratio of the decision in 1964 (2) OCR p. 879 (C. B. Go,ain v.
State of
Orissa and Ors.) But, the High Oourt, on a reference ans\vered it in favour
of the assessee and against tb~ revenue.
Allo\ving the Revenue's appeal by
special leave the· Court,
l:lELD : (I) .It is well settled '..ha• whether a partiiculal' transaction is a
contract of sale or a works contract depends upon the tn1e construction of the
terms and conditions of the document, when there is one. The question will
depend upon the intention _of the parties executing the contract. There is no
standard fonnula by whichi one con di!>tinguish a contract of ::sale from
the
contract for vvork or labour. The question is not always easy and has always
vexed jurists all over. The distinction, between contract of sale: of goods and a
contract for work and Jabour is often a fine one.
A contract of sale is a
contract whose main obiect is the transfer of property in and the delivery of
the possession of, a chattel as a chattel to the buyer.
[160 E-G]
State of Guiarat v. Variety Body Builders,
[1976]
(3) SCR 131 applied.
Halsbury's Laws of England, referred to.
(2) As per terms and conditions of contract, the land was given free lor
n1anufacture of bricks: the materials remained at the risk of the contractor
till the date of :final delivery; the respondent could not sell the brir;ks to third
parties but could do so under certain restrictions; the contracting parties have
used the words as sale, purchase, delivery or rates of supply etc., in the
contract. All these terms and conditions are almost identical to the conditions
in Chandra Bhan Gosain's case and hence the decision in that case will govern
the present case ns well. The various other terms in the contract, nnmely,
1naintenunce o[ a qualified executive engineer for supervision of work, restriction on e1nploy1nent of children ~lnder 12 ye~rs of age, la~o.ur \\relfar~ provisions regnr<liing wages, workmen s con1pensat1on etc., _provLS1on
relatlng
to
cruelty to t1nimals, non-payment of royaliy for excavating earth etc. releate to
" ;
--
..
•
' .
•
•
••
c.s.T. v. SABARMATI MANDALI (Goswami, J.)
159
a process of proper and efficient manufacturing of bricks and are not inconA
sistent in a contract of sale. These terms do not appear to impinJe on the
character of the contract as one for sale of bricks manufactured. The Government in its overall interest and anxiety could insist on compliance of certain
beneficial legal measures.
Provision against sub-letting v.:hen the land was
gi..-en free by the Government was also understandable. All these features
do not negate the concept of a contract of sale of bricks that are ultimately

## Text

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158
COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX, GUJARAT
v.
M/S. SABARMATI RETI UDYOG SAHAKARI MANDALI LTD.
April 26, 1976
[H, R KHANNA AND P. K. GOSWAMI, JJ.J
Sales Tax-Works contract for manufacture and supply .of kiln burnt bricks
-Bricks .tnanufactured and supplied according to
contract and payment
received-Contract whereby land is given free and the right to sell to third
parties is subject to restrictions-Whether there is a transfer of chattel for
co11sideration-Co11tract whether liable to sales tax on bricks supplied-Bombay
Sales Tax A.ct. 1959.
Contract of sale and contract for ·work and labour-Distinction--Beneficial
~..,·elf are features in a contract do not negate the concept of a contract of sale.
The respondent manufactured and supplied kiln burnt bricks to the appellant
as per the works contract dated 8/9th December, 1970, which provided (i)
that land would be given free; (ii) that the material shall remain at the
contractor's risk till the date of final delivery; and (iii) that the. contractor
had a right to sell to the third parties bricks subject to payn1ent of 10%
of the value of materials at the tender rates of the appellant. ·The respondent
\Vas assessed to sales tax under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, on the
basis that'" these supplies were sales. The Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax
on an application under s. 52 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act held the supplies
as sales. On appeal the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal confirmed it, following
the ratio of the decision in 1964 (2) OCR p. 879 (C. B. Go,ain v.
State of
Orissa and Ors.) But, the High Oourt, on a reference ans\vered it in favour
of the assessee and against tb~ revenue.
Allo\ving the Revenue's appeal by
special leave the· Court,
l:lELD : (I) .It is well settled '..ha• whether a partiiculal' transaction is a
contract of sale or a works contract depends upon the tn1e construction of the
terms and conditions of the document, when there is one. The question will
depend upon the intention _of the parties executing the contract. There is no
standard fonnula by whichi one con di!>tinguish a contract of ::sale from
the
contract for vvork or labour. The question is not always easy and has always
vexed jurists all over. The distinction, between contract of sale: of goods and a
contract for work and Jabour is often a fine one.
A contract of sale is a
contract whose main obiect is the transfer of property in and the delivery of
the possession of, a chattel as a chattel to the buyer.
[160 E-G]
State of Guiarat v. Variety Body Builders,
[1976]
(3) SCR 131 applied.
Halsbury's Laws of England, referred to.
(2) As per terms and conditions of contract, the land was given free lor
n1anufacture of bricks: the materials remained at the risk of the contractor
till the date of :final delivery; the respondent could not sell the brir;ks to third
parties but could do so under certain restrictions; the contracting parties have
used the words as sale, purchase, delivery or rates of supply etc., in the
contract. All these terms and conditions are almost identical to the conditions
in Chandra Bhan Gosain's case and hence the decision in that case will govern
the present case ns well. The various other terms in the contract, nnmely,
1naintenunce o[ a qualified executive engineer for supervision of work, restriction on e1nploy1nent of children ~lnder 12 ye~rs of age, la~o.ur \\relfar~ provisions regnr<liing wages, workmen s con1pensat1on etc., _provLS1on
relatlng
to
cruelty to t1nimals, non-payment of royaliy for excavating earth etc. releate to
" ;
--
..
•
' .
•
•
••
c.s.T. v. SABARMATI MANDALI (Goswami, J.)
159
a process of proper and efficient manufacturing of bricks and are not inconA
sistent in a contract of sale. These terms do not appear to impinJe on the
character of the contract as one for sale of bricks manufactured. The Government in its overall interest and anxiety could insist on compliance of certain
beneficial legal measures.
Provision against sub-letting v.:hen the land was
gi..-en free by the Government was also understandable. All these features
do not negate the concept of a contract of sale of bricks that are ultimately
manufactured. The true test in this case is whether in ~aking the contract.
brick. produced was transferred as a chattel for consideration and this has
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taken place in this case. The essence of the contract was, therefore. the
delivery of the bricks after manufacturing.
[164 A-H, 165 A-D]
(3) ·The contra.ct in this case is contract of sale and not a works contract
and the.i assest.ee is liable to sales tax.. [165E]
C. B. Gosain v. State of Orissa and Ors. [1964] (2)i SCR 879, followed.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1512 of 1971. c
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated the
Stl1/9th December, 1970 of the Gujarat High Court in Sales Tax
R~ference No. 3/70.
·
· S. T. Desai and M. N. Shroff for ~he Appellant.
· · · V. S. Desai, Vimal Dave and Miss Kai/ash Mehta,· for the
Respaadent .
. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
· GosWAMI, J, This is an appeal by special leave against the Judgment of the Gujarat High Court dated 8th/9th December, 1970.
The respondent (hereinafter to be described as the assessee) entered into a contract with the Public Works Department of the Government of Gujarat on September 6, 1965 for manufacture and supply of
kilil-burnt bricks to the said Department for the construction of the
Capital Project, Gandhinagar. Large quantities of bricks were manufactured and supplied under the contract and the applicant received
payment for the same in accordance with the agreed rates. The
assessee made an application under section 52 of the Bombay Sales
"Tux Act, 1959, on November 19, 1967, to the Deputy Commissioner
of Sales Tax, to de(ermi'ae the question whether the said supplies of
bricks by the assessce to the Public Works Department were sales or
·works contract. The Deputy Commissioner held the supplied of bricks
. by the assessee as sales. The assessee then appealed to the Tribunal
against that order. The Tribunal following the ratio of the decision of
this Court in Chandra Bhan Gosain v. The State of Orissa and others(')
came to theo conclusion that ·the supplies of bricks were sales. At the
instance of the assessee, the Tribu'aal referred the following question of
Jaw to the High Court :- .
.
.
"Whether_o;,. the factS and in the circumstances of the case
.the transaction envisaged by the contract entered into by the
applicant with the Public Works Department of the Govern-
(!) 14 S.T.C. 766 : [1964] 2 S.C.R. 879.
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1976] SUPPLEMENTARY
ment of Gujarat on 6th September, 1965, for the manufacture
and supply of kiln-burnt bricks to the said Department and ~e
supply of bricks to the said Department in terms of their
running Bill No. XI dated 28th October, 1967, is a sale or a
works contract ?"
The High Court answered the question in favour of the assessee
holding that the transaction was •a works contract. In commg to that
conclusion the High Court held as follows :-
. ''In our opiaion, the decision of the Supreme Court in
Chandra Bhan Gosain's case (supra) is clearly distinguishable
on facts. The contract in that case, though prima facie worded as regards the relevant clauses in similar fashion as the
contract in the instant case, is in fact cast in a different mould
mid it would be difficult to hold in the light of the special
features and characteristics of the contract with which we are
concerned that the decision of the Supreme Court in that case
would completely govern the facts of this case."
Mr. S. T. Desai, the learned counsel for the appellant, submits that
the present case is squareli governed by the decision in Chandra Bhan
Gosain's case (supra) and the High Court is wrong in holding to the
contrary.
Mr. V. S. Desai, learned ccunsel appearing on belralf of the
assesee, on the other hand, submits that the High Court is right in disti'nguishing the present case in view of certain distinguishing features of
of the co'atract with which we are concerned.
It is well-settled that whether a particular transaction is a contract
of sale or works contract depends upon the true construction of all the
tenns and conditions of the document, when there is one. The question
will depend upon the intention of the parties executing the contract.
As we have observed in our judgment in State of Gujarat v. Variety
Budy Builders( 1) which we have just delivered there is no standard formula by which one ca11 distinguish a contract of sale from a contract
for work and labour. The question is not always easy and has for all
time vexed jurists all over. The distinction between a contract of sale of
goods and a contract for work and labour is often a fin.e one. A contract of sale is contract whose main object is the transfer of the property
in, and the delivery of the possession of, a chattel as a chattel _to the
buyer. (Halsbury's Laws of England, Third Editio'a, Volume 34, pl\lle
,..
6.)
The contract with which we are concerned in this appeal is found
in a tender "for the supply of materials" containing a memorandum of
the coaditions. The nature of work is described as "manufacturing and
supplying kiln-burn bricks for construction of gandhinagar". The question will depend upon the true constrnction of the tender which, on
acceptance, is treated here as the contract containi'ng all the terms and
conditions agreed upon between the two parties. In the tender the
assessee stated "I/We chairman Sabarmati Rati Udyog Soahakari Mandli
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(1)
[1976J 3 s.c.R. 131
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c.s.T. v. SABARMA1'1 1'iANDALI (Goswami, !.)
161
Ltd., the undersigned do hereby tender for the supply of the materials
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described in the Schedule attached herewith subject to the conditions
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all\lexed. The schedule described materials as bricks and also stated
"quantities to be delivered", and "rate at which to be supplied". The
tender is desc~bed as "Supply of Materials Tender".
Although the
above nomenclature, by itself, is not decisive, we find that the same i&
justified by the principal terms governing the contract to which we will
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presently refer.
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"Clause 6 : The contractor shall give notice to the Executive
Engineer or his Assistallt of his intention of mak-
,,..
ing delivery of materials and on the materials
being approved, a receipt shall be granted to him
by the Executive Engineer or by his Assistant and
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no materials which is not so approved shall be
considered to have been delivered.
Clause 7: On the completion of the delivery of materials,
the contractor shall be furnished with a certificate to that effect, but the delivery shall not be
considered to be complete until the contractor
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shall have removed all rejected materials, and
shall have the approved materials, stacked or
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placed in such position as may be pointed out to
him.
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Clause 8
The materials to be supplied shall be of the best
quality and in strict accordance with the specifiE
cation and the contractor shall receive payment
fo~ such materials only us are approved and
passed by the Executive Blgineer or his Assistaot.
Should the Executive Engineer consider
that any of the materials delivered arc not of the
best quaJity are not in strict accordance with the
specification but that they may be accepted and
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made use of it shall be within bis full discretion
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to accept the same at such reduced rate.s as he
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may fix thereon.
Clause 9
In the event of the material being co\1sidered by
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the Officer in the charge of the work to be inferior
to that described in the specifications, the conG
tractor shall on demand in writing, forthwith to
remove the same at his own cost and in the event
of his failure to do so, within such period as may
be ilamed by lhe Executive Engineer or his
Assistant~ the said ()fjlcer may have such rejected material removed at the contractor's risk and
expense, the expense so incurred being deducted
H
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from any sums due or which may become due to
the contractor.
1.l--333 Sup.CT/76
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1976) SlJPPLEMENtARY
Clause 11
The contractor shall supply at his own expense
all tools, plants and implements required for the
due fulfilment of his contract, a!ad μie materials
shall remain at his risk till the date of final delivery, except such portion as shall have been in
the meantime removed for use by the Executive
Engineer or his Assistant.
Cause 13
This contract shall not be sublet without the
written permission of the Executive Engineer.
In the event of the contractor subletting his
contract without such permission he shall be considered to have thereby committed a breach of
the contract and shall forfeit his security deposit,
and shall have no claim for any compensation for
any loss that may accrue on accou,1t of the collection of the materials or engagements
entered
into.
Clause 16
No guarantee can be given that the total number
of quantities of material indicated in the Schedule
of the contract will be ordered during the period
of the contract.
But, the Executive Engineer
shall purchase from the
contractor all such
materials as ure detailed in the Schedule which
he may require to purchase during the period of
the contract.
Clau3c 17
No claim or claims made by the contractor for
iacreased rates on the grounds that the market
or other rates included in the contract, have risen
during the period of his contract, will be recognised, that is to say, the contractor is bound to
complete the wrok! and or to supply materials at
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the rates mentioned in the contract.
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Clause 22
All rates quoted by the contractors are inclusive
of sales tax and the contractor will pay the same
himself,
Clause 24
The c<Yatraetor hereby declares t!rat the articles
sold to the buyer under this contract shall be of
the best quality (and workmanship) and shall
be strictly in accordance with the specifications
and particulars contained in the Schedule and
accompaniments hereof and the contractor hereby
guanmtees that the said articles would continue
to conf9rm to the description and quality aforesaid for the period shown in the Schedule from
the date of delivery of the said articles to the
purchaser and that notwithstanding that fact tlrat
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c.s.T. v. SABARMATI MANDALI (Goswami, !.)
163
the purchaser may have inspected and approved
the said articles if during •the aforesaid period
stated in the Schedule the said articles be discovered not to conform to the descnption and
quality aforesaid or !iave deteriorated alld. the
decision of the purchaser in that behalf shall be
final and conclusive.
The purchaser will be
entitled to reject the said articles on such portion
thereof as may be discovered not to conform to
the said description and qtrality on such rejection the articles \j'ill be at the 'Sellers' risk and
all the provisions herein contal,1ed relating to
rejection of goods, etc. shall apply.
The contractor shall if so called upon to do, replace the
articles etc. or such portion thereof as is rejected
by the purchaser otherwise the contractor shall
pay to the purchaser such damages as may arise
by any of the breach of the condition herein
contained, nothing herein contained shall prejudice any other right of the purchaser in that
behalf under this contract or otherwise."
Amongst some of the general conditions of the contract, we find the
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following :
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"Clause 3 : All the necessary arrangemeats of raw materials,
equipment water, coal, labour etc. required for
supply and manufacture of bricks shall have to
be made by the cont,actor at his own cost. The
Government shall give only land for ell;cavating
soil for manufacture of bricks to the contractors
free of rent from the land reserved by the
Governme,lt for this purpose. The land shall
have to be !randed over back to the Government
after the manufacturing of the brick work is
completed.
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Clause 10
The contractor shall have no right to sell these
bricks, brick bats, chharas or any other materials mam1factured on this site to any other private parties.
If, however, it is found tlmt the
materials have been sold by him
to private
parties or other bodies, he shall have to pay to
Department at the rate of 10% of the value of
materials at the tender rates."
While giving the specificatiol1s Item No. 1 herein refers to "manufacturing and supplying of 1 Class kim-burnt bricks of standard size
including stacking in regular consignments etc. camp. as directed".
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SCPREME cot;RT REPORTS
(1976] SUPPLn1E:<TARY
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Mr. v . S. Desai bring& to our notice the conunon as well as the
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distinguishr11g features of this case and of Chandra Bha11 Gosain's case
lsupra). According to him the common features arc the following:-
The land was given free for manufacture o[ bricks in both the cases.
The materials shall remain at the contractor's risk till the date of final
delivery. Jn Chandra Bhan Gosain's case (supra) the contractor could
not sell the bricks to third parties without previous permission of the
comp:rny. Here also the contractor has no right to sell the bricks etc.
but if he does sell he will have to pay 10 per cent of the value of the
materials at the tender rates. Both the clauses arc, therefore, penniss1ve clauses and are substantially the same. In both the contracts the
contracting parties have used the words such as sell, purch'ase, deliver
or rate of supply etc. in the contract.
In Chandra Blum Gosai11's case (supra) dealing wilh those very
common features this Court observed as follows :-
'·It may be presumed that it was understood that in quoting his rate for the bricks, the appeJla:,1t would take intr•
accowit the free supply of earth for making the bricks. Again
what was supplied to the company by the appellant was not
the earth which he got from it but bricks, which, we think,
are something entirely different. It could not have been intended that the property in the earth would continue in the
compa11y in spite of its conversion into such a different thing
as bricks. Further we find that the contract provided that
the bricks would remain at the appellant's risk till delivery
to the company. Now, pbviously bricks could not remain at
the appellant's risk unless they were his property. Another
clause provided that the appellant would not be able to sell
the bricks to other parties without the permission of the company. Apparently, it MIS contemplated that without such a
provision the appellant could have sold the bricks to others.
Now he could not sell the bricks at all unless they belonged
to him. Then we find that in the tender which the appellAnt
submitted Md the ac;.ceptance of whi~h made the contract, he
stated, "I/we hereby tender for the supply to the Hindusthan Steel Private Ltd. cl the materials described in the
undermentioned memoriindurn .. The memorandum described
the materials as b.ricks, and also stated the 'qual>tities to be
delivered' and the 'rate at which materials are to be supplied'.
All these provisions p!Wnly show that the contract was for
sale of bricks. If it were so, the property in the bricks must
have been in the appellant and passed from him to the
subject-matter.
From the above extract, it is clear that the decision in Chandra
Bhan Gosain's case (supra) will govern the present case where terms
and conditions are almost identical so far as relating to the relevant
subject-matter.
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Mr. Desai, however, took pains to point out certain distinguishing
features of the present case such as maintellllllCe of qualified Executive
Engineer for supervision of work subject to removal at the Instance of
the Government; restriction on employme!ilt of children under 12 years;
labour welfare provisions regarding wages; workmen's compellS'ation,
etc.; provisions in relation to prevention of cruelty to animals; nonpayment of royalty for excavati'ag earth; use of tube-wells standing on
the Government site manner of execution of the work re!(arding moulding and drying and provision against subletting which shall constitute
a breach of the contract resulting In forfeiture of security deposit.
All the above tenns relate to a stage 1'.1 the process of proper and
efficient manufacturing of bricks and are not inconsistent in a contract
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of sale. These terms do not appear to impinge <1.1 the character of the
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contract as one for sale of the bricks manufactured. The Government
in its overall interest and anxiety for general welfare could insist on
compliance with certain beneficial legal measures. It could also insist
on certain terms which will ensure efficient production of the material.
Provision against subletting when the land was given free by Government is also understa'.1dable. All the above features do not negate the
concept of a contract of sale of the bricks that are ultimately manumcD
lured. The true test in this case is whether in makinl! the contract to
brick produced was transferred as a chattel for consideration alld we
ar~ clearlv of opinion that this has taken place in this case. The property in the bricks was e1.1tirely of the assessee. He had not onlv to
manufacture that but also to stack them for facilitating delivery. The
essence of the contract was, therefore, the delivery of the bricks after
manufacture. The present case cannot be distin~ished from the deciE
sion of the Chandra Bhan Gosain's case (supra).
We are, therefore, clearly of opinion that the contract in this case is
a contract of sale and not a works contract. The assessee is, therefore,
liable to sales tax. The question is answered accordin2lv. The Hi2h
Court was not right in lll!swering the question in favour of the assessee .
T~e decision of the High Court is set aside. The appeal is allowed
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with costs.
S.R.
Appeal allowed.