Cenvat credit on advertising structures upheld where bus queue shelters were treated as movable and used for commercial advertising services.

Cenvat credit was held admissible on inputs and capital goods used by an advertising agency to construct bus queue shelters and similar display structures. The reasoning was that materials such as steel tubes, angles, panels and electrical equipment were essential for providing advertising services, and credit could not be denied merely because the finished structures were characterised as immovable property. The structures were treated as capable of relocation and as commercially exploited assets in the course of the service activity. On that basis, the denial of Cenvat credit was not sustainable and the assessee succeeded.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit was admissible on inputs and capital goods used by an advertising agency for bus queue shelters and similar display structures, and whether such structures could be treated as immovable property so as to deny credit.

Analysis: The dispute concerned credit taken on duty-paid materials used to create advertising structures and related facilities during the relevant period. The earlier decision in the appellant's own case for an identical period had held that items such as steel tubes, angles, panels, electrical equipment and similar materials were essential inputs for providing advertising services and could not be denied credit merely by treating the resulting structures as immovable. The structures were found to be capable of relocation and were used for commercial exploitation in the course of advertising services. Following that reasoning, the denial of credit on the ground that the bus queue shelters were immovable structures was not sustainable.

Conclusion: Credit was admissible and the denial of Cenvat credit was set aside in favour of the assessee.

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