Works contract classification turns on incorporation and fabrication where stadium chairs lose separate identity on installation.

A composite contract for supplying and fixing PVC stadium chairs on stainless steel framework was treated as a works contract because the dominant activity was fabrication, welding, grinding, polishing, anchoring and installation into the stadium structure. The chairs were not marketable goods sold as such, and their identity was lost on incorporation into the works rather than transferred as goods simpliciter. Distinctions drawn from cases on rolling shutters, pipelines or lifts did not assist the Revenue on these facts. The Tribunal's assessment of the agreement, work schedule and engineering explanation was found sound, and its view that the transfer was not in the form of goods was not perverse.

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Issues: Whether the contract for providing and fixing PVC stadium chairs on stainless steel framework was a works contract involving transfer not in the form of goods, and whether the Tribunal's finding on that question was perverse.

Analysis: The contract was a composite one involving fabrication of stainless steel frames, welding, grinding, polishing, anchoring and fixing of PVC seating elements to the pre-cast stadium structure. The dominant work was fabrication and installation, and the chairs could not be treated as marketable goods sold as such. The distinction drawn from cases involving rolling shutters, pipelines or lifts did not assist the Revenue on these facts, since the essential question was whether the goods retained their identity after incorporation. The Tribunal's appreciation of the agreement, the work schedule and the engineering explanation showed that the transfer occurred through incorporation in the works and not as goods simpliciter.

Conclusion: The contract was correctly treated as a works contract with transfer not in the form of goods, and the Tribunal's finding was not perverse. The question was answered in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

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