Cenvat credit on mandatory garden maintenance qualifies as input service when tied to Pollution Control Board compliance for manufacture.

Garden maintenance service used to satisfy Pollution Control Board conditions and maintain a green belt within factory premises was treated as integrally connected with statutory environmental compliance for manufacture. Applying the broader input service definition, the service tax paid qualified for Cenvat credit because the service related directly or indirectly to manufacture and to business activities, and the mandatory regulatory requirement distinguished contrary views on different facts. Accordingly, credit was admissible on the garden maintenance services.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit was admissible on service tax paid for garden maintenance services used by the assessee to comply with Pollution Control Board directions and maintain a green belt within the factory premises.

Analysis: The assessee's manufacturing activity was permitted subject to conditions imposed by the Pollution Control Board, including maintenance of a green belt and use of treated effluents within the factory premises. In that setting, the garden maintenance service was not a mere aesthetic facility but a service integrally connected with statutory environmental compliance necessary for continued manufacture. Applying the wider understanding of input service, a service used directly or indirectly in relation to manufacture, clearance of final products, or activities relating to business remains eligible for credit if any one limb of the definition is satisfied. The contrary view was distinguished on facts because the present case involved a mandatory regulatory requirement.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to avail Cenvat credit on the garden maintenance services.

Ratio Decidendi: Where garden maintenance is a mandatory condition imposed by the Pollution Control Board for carrying on manufacturing operations, the related service tax qualifies as input service for Cenvat credit.

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