Dominant nature test in printing contracts treats customer-specific job work as works contract, not taxable sale.

Printing and supplying materials prepared to customers' specifications is treated as work and labour rather than a taxable sale where the contract's dominant purpose is the creation of a non-marketable finished product for identified customers. The decisive test is the nature of the contract and the intention of the parties, not the mere use of the printer's materials or incidental transfer of property during execution. On that principle, such transactions are not exigible to sales tax as sales and fall within the category of works contracts.

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Issues: Whether printing and supplying materials prepared on customers' specifications constituted a taxable sale or a works contract not exigible to sales tax.

Analysis: The decisive test is the nature of the contract and the intention of the parties. In contracts for printing specific materials for identified customers, the finished product is not a commercial commodity capable of being sold in the open market to others. Mere use of the assessee's materials and incidental transfer of property in those materials during execution does not by itself convert the transaction into a sale. Applying the settled principle followed in prior decisions on similar printing job-work transactions, the supply was treated as work and labour rather than a sale.

Conclusion: The transaction was not liable to sales tax as a sale and was to be treated as a works contract. The issue was decided in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: In printing contracts for specified customers, where the end product is not a marketable commodity for others and the dominant nature of the transaction is work and labour, incidental transfer of materials does not make the transaction a sale.

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