TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (9) TMI 1578
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....pellant on the service tax paid on insurance services under group Medishield policies and personal accident policies provided to its employees and their families was denied for the period January, 2006 to July, 2007. A penalty of Rs.4,16,00,000/- was also imposed upon the appellant under section 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. 2. The appellant provides information technology services such as ebusiness solutions, engineering services, enterprise solutions, customized software development services and ERP implementation services and is registered with the department and has been paying service tax. The appellant also avails Cenvat credit on various input services used for providing output services as per Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 CCR . During a....
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....d includes services used in relation to setting up, modernization, renovation or repairs of a factory, premises of provider of output service or an office relating to such factory or premises, advertisement or sales promotion, market research, storage upto the place of removal, procurement of inputs, activities relating to business such as accounting, auditing, financing, recruitment and quality control, coaching and training, computer networking, credit rating, share registry, security, business exhibition, legal services, inward transportation of inputs or capital goods and outward transportation upto the place of removal." Thus, the definition of input service has wide amplitude and includes any service used in activities relating to b....
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....g, auditing, financing, recruitment and quality control, coaching and training, computer networking, credit rating, share registry, security, business exhibition, legal services, inward transportation of inputs or capital goods and outward transportation upto the place of removal'. Therefore, only such activities as would fall in the same category as the aforesaid services would qualify as input services and not any service which may have been availed in the course of business. He relies on the judgment of the Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat in the case of CCE, Ahmedabad-II vs Cadila Health Care Ltd 2013 (30) STR (3) (Guj.) . Para 5.2(a)(ix) reads as follows: "(ix) As regards the contention that in any event the service rendered by a commis....
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....d to be examined is as to whether the service rendered by commission agents can be said to be an activity which is analogous to any of the said activities. The activity of commission agent, therefore, should bear some similarity to the illustrative activities. In the opinion of this court, none of the illustrative activities, viz., accounting, auditing, financing, recruitment and quality control, coaching and training, computer networking, credit rating, share registry, and security is in any manner similar to the services rendered by commission agents nor are the same in any manner related to such services. Under the circumstances, though the business activities mentioned in the definition are not exhaustive, the service rendered by the co....
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....is also not similar to the services indicated in that list. Therefore, the appellant is not entitled to Cenvat credit. He relies on the judgment of the Hon'ble Gujarat High Court in the case of Cadila Health Care Ltd. On the contrary, learned counsel for the appellant relies on the judgment of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Coca Cola India Pvt Ltd. Para 27 of which is reproduced below: "27. Similarly, the use of the word activities in the phrase activities relating to business further signifies the wide import of the phrase "activities relating to business". The Rule making authority has not employed any qualifying words before the word activities, like main activities or essential activities etc. Therefore, it must follow t....