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The assessee, who is the appellant before us, is a partnership firm carrying on the business inter alia of manufacturing and erection of cranes. During the assessment year 1965-66, the assessee entered into two contracts for supply and erection of 3-motion electrical overhead travelling cranes, one with M/s Kamlapat Moti Lal Sugar Mills and the other with M/s Upper Doab Sugar Mills Ltd. The contract with M/s Kamlapat Moti Lal Sugar Mills provided for supply and erection of one 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane at the price of Rs. 1,34,500/- and on the terms and conditions set out in a letter addressed by M/s Kamlapat Moti Lal Sugar Mills to be assessee:

The contract between Upper Doab Sugar Mills Ltd. was for supply and erection of two 3-motion electrical overhead travelling cranes with two crabs each at the price of Rs. 1,19,000/- for each crane and it was on the following terms and conditions:

"That the contractor will supply the company two cranes with two crabs each as under:-
(i) Crane bridge: The structural design of the crane bridge will be in accordance with the structural specifications of B.S.S. 466 for electric overhead travelling crane. The structural parts will be fabricated from good quality Tata tested steel sections. The girders for the main bridge will be of lattice construction type heavy duty.

That there will be no liability and responsibility of the company whatsoever besides payment of price of the cranes.

That sales tax or excise duty and other government duty, if any, will be extra. Packing and forwarding charges will also be extra."

The assessee carried out both these contracts and fabricated and erected one 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane at the factory of M/s Kamlapati Moti Lal Sugar Mills and two 3-motion electrical overhead travelling cranes at the factory of M/s Upper Doab Sugar Mills Ltd. according to the contracts specifications.

If we consider what is a 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane and how it is fabricated, erected and installed, it will become immediately clear that the analogy of the decision in Sentinel Rolling Shutters & Engineering Co. (P) Ltd.'s case (supra) to the present case is striking and it must lead us to the conclusion that each of the two contracts with which we are concerned here is not a contract for sale but a contract for work and labour. The publication of the Indian Standards Institution which lays down the Code of Practice for Design of Overhead Travelling Cranes and Gantry Cranes clearly shows that a 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane consists of 44 main component parts and it is only when they are put together and assembled at the site that they assume the shape of a crane. It is not as if a 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane is fabricated by the manufacturer and then sold and delivered to the customer as a chattel. One single 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane covers an area of 10,549 Square Feat at the site. When an order for fabrication and erection of 3-month electrical overhead travelling crane is received by the manufacturer from the customer alongwith the specifications of the size and the materials, the manufacturer designis the machine according to the specifications and prepares the necessary drawings for its fabrication and manufacture and two copies of the drawings are sent to the customer for preparing the foundation at the site for erection of the columns which are ten in number along with four supporting columns. Each column has to be placed on a grouted foundation which is 7 feet deep and is securely bolted with foundation bolts, 5 on each side. which are grouted so as to be able to support the weight of the columns. The columns thus become permanent fixtures on the land of the customer and they constitute a permanent foundation for the 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane. The detailed specifications of the foundation bolts and the columns are given in the publication of the Indian Standards Institution. It may be noted that even so far as the columns are concerned, they are not fabricatetd by the manufacturer in his factory and then taken to the site. Each column has a height of about 40 feet and it is made in three or four pieces and these pieces are joined together with bolts and welded at the time of erection at the site. Thereafter a 120 feet long gantry is assembled by the manufacturer in eight pieces and each piece is placed on two columns and the erection of the gantry on both sides is completed after bolting and svelaing the gantry with the columns. Then about 60 pieces are fixed on to the gantry on both sides to form a platform to facilitate the operation and maintenance of the crane and the component parts of the railings are assembled at the site with bolts and welded to the gantry. Two distance pieces assembled out of diverse component parts are then fixed between both ends of the gantry to ensure stability. The manufacturer has to examine and ensure the levelling and alignment of the gantry and then the component parts of the rails are assembled and fixed on both sides of the gantry by means of M.S. cleats and bolts. The bridge which is fabricated out of numerous component parts at the site, is then put on the rails so that it can run on the gantry and travel about 180 feet from one end Or the gantry to another. Then rails are fixed on the bridge and the trolley is put on the rails. The trolley consists of several component parts which are brought and assembled at the site. There is also a platform erected on the bridge for maintenance of the bridge and trolley and lastly, there is a lifting grab which is made of 36 pieces assembled at the site and this grab is fitted on to the trolley. It would thus be seen that the fabrication and erection of a 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane is a highly skilled and specialised job and the component parts have to be taken to the site and they are assembled and erected there and it is only when this process is complete then a 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane comes into being. The process of assembling and erection, requires a high degree of skill and it is not possible to say that the erection of a 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane at the site is merely incidental to its manufacture and supply. The fabrication and erection is one single indivisible process and a 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane comes into existence only when the erection is complete. The erection is thus a fundamental and integral part of the contract, because without it the 3- motion electrical overhead travelling crane does not come into being. The manufacturer would undoubtedly be the owner of the components parts when he fabricated them but at no stage does he become the owner of the 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane as a unit so as to transfer the property in it to the customer. The 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane comes into existence as a unit only when the component parts are fixed in position and erected at the site, but at that stage it becomes the property of the customer because it is permanently embedded in the land belonging to the customer. The result is that as soon as 3-motion electrical overhead travelling crane comes into being it is the property of the customer and there is, therefore, no transfer of property in it by the manufacturer to the customer as a chattel. It is essentially a transaction for fabricating component parts and putting them together and erecting them at the site so as to constitute a 3 motion electrical overhead travelling crane. The transaction is no different than one for fabrication and erection of an open godown or shed with asbestos or tin sheets fixed on columns. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the contract in the present case was a contract for work and labour and not a contract for sale. This view which we are taking is completely supported by the decision of this Court in the Sentinel Rolling Shutters & Engineering Co. (P) Ltd. v. Commissioner of Sales Tax, Maharashtra (supra).