Dominant object test determines whether ballast supply with stacking terms remains a sale contract rather than works contract.

A contract to supply jelly (ballast) with an obligation to stack it in prescribed heaps at specified points was treated as a contract of sale, not a works contract or composite sale-and-work arrangement. The decisive test was whether the dominant object was supply of goods as goods or execution of work by labour and service. The stacking requirement was held merely incidental to delivery and measurement, and did not amount to ballasting of railway track or create a different commercial result. On that basis, the contract remained one for supply of chattel as chattel, in favour of Revenue.

---

---

Issues: Whether a contract for supply of jelly (ballast) coupled with a condition that the ballast should be stacked in a particular manner before delivery amounted to a contract for work or a composite contract for sale of goods and work.

Analysis: The contract required the assessee only to supply ballast at agreed rates and to stack it in systematically arranged heaps of prescribed measurement at specified points so that the quantity could be measured. The stacking obligation was merely incidental to delivery and did not involve ballasting of the railway track or any work that created a different commercial result. The governing test was whether the dominant object of the contract was supply of goods as goods or execution of work by labour and service. Applying that test, the contract was one for supply of chattel as chattel, and the requirement of stacking did not convert it into a works contract.

Conclusion: The contract was not a works contract or a composite contract for sale and work, but only a contract of sale, in favour of Revenue.

---