The judgment of the Court was delivered by

DR. B. P. SARAF, J. - By this reference under section 61(1) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, the Maharashtra Sales Tax Tribunal has referred the following question of law to this Court for opinion at the instance of the Revenue :

"Whether, on the true and proper interpretation of the terms of the contract entered into by the respondents on January 6, 1967 with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay, the Tribunal was correct in holding that it was an indivisible contract for work and labour and not a divisible contract, one for the sale of machinery and equipments and the other for the erection of the said individual items of machinery and equipments ?"

2. The materials facts of the case relevant for determination of the controversy, briefly stated, are as follows :

The assessee, M/s. Steel Plant Pvt. Ltd., carries on the business of manufacturing of boilers, furnaces and other engineering equipment. It had entered into a contract with the Bombay Municipal Corporation on January 6, 1967, for "supplying and erecting machinery and electric equipments for the proposed slaughter house at Deonar". As the said contract involved bo