First-aid services mandated by labour laws qualify as input services, making Cenvat credit denial unsustainable.

Maintenance of first-aid facilities and trained first-aid personnel, required under the Factories Act, 1948 and the Mines Act, 1952, is treated as a service used in or in relation to manufacture for Cenvat purposes. The stated reasoning is that statutory compliance is necessary to carry on manufacturing activity, so the service is not a remote welfare expense but an integral business input. By applying the approach used for statutorily mandated canteen services, the analysis concludes that such first-aid services fall within the input service definition and that denial of Cenvat credit is unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the service availed for maintaining first-aid facilities and trained first-aid personnel, required under the Factories Act and the Mines Act, qualifies as an input service used in or in relation to the manufacture of final products, entitling the assessee to Cenvat credit.

Analysis: The maintenance of first-aid facilities for workers in the factory and mines was a statutory obligation under the Factories Act, 1948 and the Mines Act, 1952. Since compliance with those enactments was necessary for carrying on manufacturing activity, the service engaged for that purpose was not a remote welfare measure but a service connected with the business of manufacture. The definition of input service extends to services used directly or indirectly in or in relation to manufacture, and the reasoning adopted by the Gujarat High Court on statutorily mandated canteen services applied equally to first-aid services that are indispensable for running the factory.

Conclusion: The service was held to be an input service and the denial of Cenvat credit was unsustainable.

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