STATE OF TAMIL NADU v. ANANDAM VISWANATHAN

Citation: [1989] 1 S.C.R. 301

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: SABYASACHI MUKHERJI, S. RANGANATHAN

Case summary

The correctness of that decision was challenged before the High Court by two Revision Cases under section 38 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 (hereinafter called 'the Act')....

Judgment text

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SABYASACHI MUKARJI, J. Special leave granted in Special Leave Petitions (C) Nos. 10539, 4704 and 921of1979. STATE OF TAMIL. NADU v. A. VISWANATHAN [MUKHARJI, J. ] 305 These appeals by leave under Article 136 of the Constitution, are from the orders of the High Court of Madras, involving a common question though for different assessment years. · It would be appropriate to deal with Civil Appeal Nos. 2346-47/78, and the facts in other appeals are essentially the same. The assessee in these cases had entered into contracts with the Universities and other educational institutions in the country for printing question papers for the said educational institutions. The assessee in the demand notes prepared, gave the charges for printing blocks, packing charges, handling charges, delivery charges, postage, value of paper and value of packing materials separately in the relevant assessment years.

The question involved is, whether the taxable turnover should also include the printing and block-making charges or not. It a,ppears from the judgment of the High Court that for the assessment year 1966-67, the printing charges amounted to Rs. 99,675. 00 and block-making charges amounted to Rs. 2,923. 95, totalling Rs. l,02,598. 95. Similarly, so far as the assessment year 1968-69 is concerned, the printing charg~s amounted to Rs. 1,33, 137 and block- I) making charges amounted to Rs. 5,36L75 totalling Rs. 1,38,498. 75. The COf! troversy involved in these appeals was_, whether these two amounts were includible in the assessable turnover of the respondent in the respective years in question. The case of the assessee was that the contract entered into be~een her and the respective educa- ,,itional institutions was a contract ·of work and labour and in the performance of that contract, .

incidentally she had to sell paper to them and, hence, except to the extent of the cost of paper, in respect of the other amounts received by her she was not liable to pay sales-tax. On the other hand, the Government's stand was that the contract was for. the sale of printed materials by the respondent to the respective aducational institutions and, therefore, the entire amount will have to be taken. into account as turnover liable to tax. In other words, would printing question papers and incidentally supplying the papers upon which such questions were printed, entail the entire cost to be liable to sales-tax, As was put before us, the question is, can one sell printed question papers and charge for the same? ~ The High Court mentioned that till 1963 the assessee was herself doing the printing and the Tribunal held that during that period only the cost of paper was includible in the taxable turnover. With effect from 3. 11.

1963 the printing was done by a firm of which the assessee's sons and daughters were partners. The contract, however, continued to be entered into between the assessee and the respective educational institutions. According to the Govt. , as appears from the judgment of the High Court, this made a difference and, as such, the order of the Tribunal in the previous years could not govern the assessment for the respective years referred to above. The Tribunal, however, held against the revenue holding that only the value of paper was liable to be included in the taxable turnover of the assessee. The correctness of that decision was challenged before the High Court by two Revision Cases under section 38 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 (hereinafter called 'the Act').

The High Court on an analysis of the facts and the several decisions came· to the conclusion that printing of question papers involved confidentiality of the materials to be printed, and held that apart from the paper nothing else could be included in the total taxable turnover of the assessee. The High Court came to the conclusion that the contract entered into between the assessee and the University and other edncational institutions was a composite contract i. e:, a contract for work and labour' as well as a contract for sale of the paper. It was contended on behalf of the revenue that in case of sale of all printed materials, the sales-tax was liable on the entire work. In that view of the matter if the liability for sale of printed material would include the entire price then there was no authority, according to the revenue, to treat the question papers differently.

It is, however, clear as the High Court noted, that the printng of question papers of educational institutions was an extremely and highly confidential matter. ·This is the first aspect of the matter which must be borne in mind. It was efuphasised that such printing could not be entrusted to any press of one's choice, and the Universities and other educatioal institutions were only obliged to enter into such contracts with those in whom they have got the highest confidence so that the printer would not divulge the questions to be printed by him/her and will preserve the confidential nature of the transaction. Therefore, in printing question papers entrusted by educational institutions to the printer the value included the price of the confidentiality and the confidence reposed in the printer. It has to be borne in mind that the price paid for such confidentiality and trust is not the price for the sale of goods.

In case of printing of other materials just like letter-heads, bills, account books or even printing works like a novel, story, poem or drama (subject to copyrights), the technical excellence and the professional efficiency of the printer, among other things, might enter into calculation for entrusting the job to a particular printer and the performance thereof. However, the position is different in case of printing of confidential matters like question STATE OF TAMIL NADU v. A. VISWANATHAN IMUKHARJI, J. I 307 -J- papers of the Universities or other educational institutions. The value paid for such printing job includes to a large extent the price of not only the technical and professional work but also the value, if it could be measured in terms of money, of the confidence and faith reposed that the printing materials should not be disclosed to anyone save to be returned back to the University or the educational institutions to be- '")( dealt with in accordance with its obligations.

The High Court noticed these points and came to the conclusion that in view of these peculiar features which will be present in the printing of matters which are confidential in nature and will not be . ~·· present in other case the contracts pre-dominantly being contracts for work with confidence and faith, should be treated mainly as contracts for labour and not contracts for sale of any goods such as printed ~-,.. materials. It may be that in the execution of the contracts and for the purpose of completing the work, the parties might enter into the contracts for sale of the paper and in this context, it was a composite contract which. can be split up into contract for sale of paper and contract for work and labour. Relying on a decision of this Court in Govt. ofAndhra Pradesh v. Guntur Tobaccos Ltd. , XVI STC 240, the High Court was of the view ). -.

that the cost of paper shown separately in the contract would be liable to tax and except for that cost of paper and the material supplied in other respect, the contract was a contract for work and labour and there could not be any liability for sales-tax. According to the High Court, this would cover the printing charges. Blocks, it was found, were destroyed after the question papers had been printed. Hence, there was no question of sale of blocks or passing of the property. The High Court so held. - Following the aforesaid position in other matters which are the subject-matters of other al}Peals where the High Court held accordingly, it dismissed the revision application of the revenue. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant has come up to this Court by leave. Our attention was drawn by both Mr. Mohan, learned counsel for the appellant and Mr. Ramchandran, counsel for the respondent to the decision of this Court in Govt. of Andhra Pradesh v. Guntur Tabacco Ltd.

, (supra), where this Court laid down that a contract for work in the execution of which goods are used may take one of three forms. The contract may be for work to be done for remuneration and for supply of materials used in the execution of the works for a price; it may be a contract for work in which the use of materials is accesssory or incidental to the execution of the work; or it may be a contract for work and use or supply of materials, though not accessory to the execution of the contract, is voluntary or gratuitous. In the last class there is no sale because though property passed it did not pass for a price. Whether a contract is of the first or the second class must depend upon the circumstances; if it is of the first, it is a composite contract for work and sale of goods; where it is of the second category, it is a contract for execution of work not involving sale of goods. In our opinion, the aforesaid tests lay down correct criteria for determining the question. Mr.

Mohan, appearing for the revenue, pressed before us th"! the said principle requires clarification. He emphasised that Press has no ownership over the materials or papers upon which the questions were printed. Who then, Mr. Mohan posed, was the owner, author or the paper setter of the University or the educational institution or the printing Press? In our opinion, when the questions are set on a piece of paper and sent for printing the University remains the owner until it divulges these to the intending candidates or the students. But that is a matter which is relevant in the method of communication of the questions to the candidates appearing in the examination. The means employed for such communication entail use of mind, confidence, trust for the material, paper and the technical skill of printing.

It is a combination of these various factors that results in printing the question papers and the payment made in the process entails a composite payment for all these and can only be dissected and determined in the way laid down by the principle enunciated in the afroesaid decision. Our attention was, however, drawn by Mr. Mohan to a decision 1 of the Bombay High Court in Saraswati Printing Press v. Commissioner of Sales Tax, Eastern Division, Nagpur, X STC 286. There the petitioner Press itself purchased the stationery and did printing work upon it according to the orders of individual customers and supplied the printed stationery to the customers. It was held that there the petitioner had produced a commercial commodity which was capable of being sold or supplied and when the petitioner sold the printed stationery to its customers, it sold goods to the customers upon which . ~ sales tax was leviable.

In those circumstances, it was held that the transactions done by the said petitioner Press were not in the nature of works contracts but were sales of goods and therefore recourse to rule 5(3) of the rules could not be made. It was further held that as the petitioner did not immediately dispose of the stationery purchased by STATE OF TAMIL NADU v. A. VISWANATHAN IMUKHARJI, J. I 309 it in favour of its constituents, but kept it in the Press and did printing work upon it and then supplied the finished product to its constituents, the provisions of clause (iv) of Explanation I of clause (m) of section 2 were not attracted. The High Court relied on the decision of the Allahabad High Court reiterating the principle that it is necessary to determine the substance of tl\e contract, and as the substance of the contract is that skill and labour that had been exercised for the production of the article and sale of material is only ancillary to that.

In our opinion, the principle upon which the High Court relied, is not applicable in case of transactions of printing of question papers. Question papers as such, after being printed are neither available commercially nor available to any community-commercial or otherwise, save under specific circumstances for the candidates appearing at a particular time in an examination. Mr Mohan also drew our attention to the decision of Andhra Pradesh High Court in State ofAndhra Pradesh v. Sri Krishna Power Press, Vizianagaram, XI STC 498. There, the court reiterated that a transaction which results in the transfer of property in finished goods to another person cannot be described as a works contract. It was further held that where the assessee Press itself purchased stationery and did printing work upon it according to the orders of individual customers and supplied the printed stationery to the customers at an agreed price the transaction was sales liable to sales tax and not works contract.

The fact that the goods prepared by the assessee could not be exhibited for sale to the general public is not decisive of the issue.. According to the High Court the only test is whether the contract is for the sale of finished product. Mr. Mohan relying on the aforesaid observations submitted that the goods prepared by the assessee could not be sold to other customers, the person who placed order could be compelled to accept it or claim damages from the printers. He submitted that even in a case where goods are prepared according to the specific requisition to suit the requirements of individual customer, yet printing materials supplied thereto have been held to be sale of goods and he drew our attention to the several decisions referred to by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in aid of his propositions.

Normally, it may be that the goods prepared by the assessee which could not be exhibited for sale, would not be decisive of the matter and could in certain circumstances be sales liable to sales tax, but in all circumstances it depends upon the nature of the sale and the nature of the transaction involved. Printing of question papers at the behest of University or educational instituions is rather a delicate and confidential type of work and the price paid for supplying such printed question papers or printed matters entails primarily the confidence, and ,j. secondly the skill and to a very small measure the material. If that is the position then, in our opinion, it cannot be categorised entailing sale of goods but it is rather a contract for works done. Mr. Mohan also relied on the decision of the Madras High Court in P. M. Venkatachalam Pillai v.

The State of Madras, XXIII STC 72, where it was held that when a transaction is claimed· to be a works contract, a decision on the question depends on the particular facts. The primary point to bear in mind in such cases is what is the intention of the parties viewing the transaction as a whole; do they intend an apportionment or view the transaction on compartmental basis as that which represents labour and that which represents sale of the materials. Different tests may be applied in answering such a question as the stage of passing of property, risk and the like. But all these tests -.. ,/ \ converge towards finding out what is the intention of the parties. There, the question was whether the assessee's turnover consisted of the aggregate of labour charges and the cost of materials in printing work or of outright sales of finished commodity.

The assessee relied on certain bills which showed the cost of materials and labour charges but he did not produce order books or other documents. The Tribunal found that the separate entries were only a make-believe apportionment for the purpose of sales tax and that what was sold was only a finished product. In those findings the Tribunal justified on the materials to uphold the liability for sales-tax. As emphasised by the Division Bench of the Madras High Court, the entire transaction should be viewed and the intention of the parties found out. Our attention was drawn by Mr. Mohan to the decision of the Orissa High Court in the case of State of Orisssa v. Ramnath Panda, XXVII STC 98. There the High Court held that in the case of an assessee, a printer supplying printed materials, where the customers supply paper and the assessee does nothing except printing on it, the contract is one of labour and there is no sale.

Where the customer enters into an agreement that he would separately pay for the paper and the assessee would merely print on it, then also there is no sale. Where the customer does not enter into any separate agreement but merely asks the assessee to supply the printed materials, the contract is indivisible and the supply of printed materials is a sale liable to sales tax. In such a case charging separately for the paper and printing in the bill issued to the customer does not alter the essential character of the agreement, which is for the purchase of printed materials. STATE OF TAMIL NADU v. A. VISWANATHAN [MUKHARJI, J. J 311 Our attention was also drawn to another decision of Andhra Pradesh High Court in S. R. P.. Works and Ruby Press v. State of Andhra Pradesh, XXX STC 195. There, the petitioner was running a printing press, supplying cinema tickets printed on paper of different colours to the customers.

The customers obtained samples from the petitioner and then placed orders giving specifications. The petitioner while making out bills, gave break-up figures, showing the cost of paper and the cost of printing separately and the total cost. The assessing authority assessed the petitioner only on the value of the paper for printing the tickets and granted exemption in respect of printing charges on the ground that they represented the cost of labour. The Deputy Commissioner revised the order and held ihat the transactions involved were sales of finished goods, vii. ; ! he tiekeis; and lidt merely of paper. The Tribunal agreed with the finding of the Deputy Commissioner and confirmed the order. On a revision it was held by the High Court on a consideration of some of the orders placed by the customers, that the orders were specifically for printing and supply of tickets.

The fact that break-up figures were given in the bills was not decisive or conslusive in determining the question whether there were two contracts-one for supply of paper and the other for printing. We agree that the transaction under its true perspective must be viewed and the intention of the parties must be found out. Our attention was draWfi to tlie deeision of Ifie High' Goutf of K. etala in The Sales Tax Officer, Special Cfrtle 11, f>dlgizat v.. lv. S01nast1ndarlin, 33 STC 68. In that case by printing something on papet,. as in . the cases of printing letter heads,_ invitation cards, wedding invitations, judgments of courts, or ration cards, tile ptinfed matter does not become "paper products" within tne· meaning of that expres~ sion in' item 42 of Schedule I to the Ketala General Sales Tax Act; 1963. The High Court found tliat in such a case a futthet question arises as to whether it was sale of goods which could l'ie faxed ilf a:ii points.

In order to spell out a contract of sale there mu'Sf be an agree'-' ment which may be express or inferred from the circumsiances. There can be an agreement for work and labour or there can be one for sale of goods. If essentially the agreement is one for work and labour, complete exemption from taxation should be allowed. If, on the other -1. : hand, it is a contract for sale, the whole turnover should be taxed. ' A contract for printing of judgment of courts is essentially a contract for work and ! about and there is no justification for bifurcatmg that contract i'nti'f two diffefert't conftactS, 6ne· for cost of ! about and J-1 the other for sale of paper. Imposition of sales tax on the turnover relating to printing of judgments of courts is, therefore, unwarranted. In the case of contracts relating to the printing of ration cards, it is in 1 the nature of job-works and it is essentially a contract for the sale of finished articles. In P. T. Varghese v.

State of Kera/a, 37 STC 171, the assessee who was conducting a press and printing bill books, vouchers, receipt books, letter heads, question papers and notices as ordered by his * clients contended that he only executed a works contract for which he I used his own paper, that the sale of paper used for printing could not be taxed under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, as he was not , the first seller of paper in the State, and that the remuneration received by him from his clients for the work and labour could nQt also be taxed under the Act. It was held that the question really was --,( whether the contract was for the sale of paper as well as for work and labour or whether it was a contract for printed materials as such or whether it was a contract for work and labour. If it was a contract for sale of paper and for work it would be a composite contract where it might be possible to separate the sale from the work.

If, on the other hand, it was a contract for printed materials, what was sold was not paper, but printed materials. If the contract was for work and labour, in which the use of materials was merely accessory or incidental, it would be a works contract which would not involve any sale and the charges received would not be assessable to tax under the Sales Tax Act; and that the assessee's contract with the customers was not a contract for sale of paper in which labour was also involved making it a composite transaction which was capable of bifurcation into a contract for sale of materials and a contract for work and labour. What was sold was something other than paper. It could not be said that printed materials such as bills books, vouchers and the like were mere paper or products of paper. Hence, the supply of bills books, vouchers etc. was liable to be taxed under the Act as finished products.

It was further held that the question papers, however, were the subject-matter of a contract for work and labour and the charges realised by the assessee for printing them were not liable to tax. The High Court at page 176 of the report observed: "Only in respect of those goods to which title has passed as ). _ a result of contract, can it be said that the goods have been sold. Where a person buys a "Picasso" or a "Ravi Varma", he does not intend to buy or pay for the canvas or the paint, although canvas and paint are involved in the production of