TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (6) TMI 1392
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.... Excise, Thane-I confirmed the two demands in the notices, amounting to Rs.1,17,35,760, under rule 14 of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 read with section 11A of Central Excise Act, 1944, along with interest as applicable, and imposed penalty of like amount under rule 15 of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 read with section 11AC of Central Excise Act, 1944. 2. The appellant is a manufacturer of 'tubes', 'pipes' and other 'articles of stainless steel' and 'parts of industrial or laboratory furnace' on which appropriate duties of central excise are discharged. For the impugned period, the adjudicating authority held that the goods procured do not conform to rule 2(l) of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 inasmuch as these do not find use in or in relation to manufacture but for goods after clearance. 3. According to Learned Counsel for the appellant, the disputed services were all received before 1st April 2011 and covered by 'activities relating to business' in the 'inclusive' leg of 'input services' as defined in section 2(l) of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004. Reliance was placed by him on the decision of the Hon'ble High Court of Bombay in Coca Cola India Private Limited v. Commissioner of....
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....gnify according to their natural import, but also those things which the interpretation clause declares that they shall include. But the word "include" is susceptible of another construction, which may become imperative, if the context of the Act is sufficient to show that it was not merely employed for the purpose of adding to the natural significance of the words or expressions defined. It may be equivalent to "mean and include" and in that case it may afford an exhaustive explanation of the meaning which, for the purposes of the Act, must invariably be attached to these words or expressions. (emphasis supplied) The Supreme Court in the case of Bharat Coop. Bank (Mumbai) Ltd. v. Coop. Bank Employees Union - (2007) 4 SCC 685 observed as under : It is trite to say that when in the definition clause given in any statute the word "means" is used, what follows is intended to speak exhaustively. When the phrase "means" is used in the definition, to borrow the words of Lord Esher M.R. in Gough v. Gough - (1891) 2 Q.B. 665 it is a "hard and fast" definition and no meaning other than that which is put in the definition can be assigned to the same. (Also see : P. Kasiling....
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....se agreement with bottlers permitting use of brand name by bottlers promotion of brand name, etc. the expression will have to be seen in that context See (i) Pepsi Foods Ltd. v. Collector - 1996 (82) E.L.T. 33, (ii) Pepsi Foods Ltd. v. Collector - 2003 (158) E.L.T. 552 (S.C.). The Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of Karnataka v. Shreyas Paper Pvt. Ltd. 2006 SCC affirmed the view taken by the Hon'ble Karnataka High Court reported at 2001 (121) STC 738, which, inter alia, held as under : Business comprises of the regular and systematic activity with an object of earning of profits. The machinery, plant, building and the land over which they have erected or constructed are only the tools of such business. Assets and liabilities including goodwill are the necessary ingredients to constitute a business, besides the stocks and other movable and immovable items connected with the said business. In Mazgaon Dock Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income tax and Excess Profits Tax - AIR 1958 SC 861 the Hon'ble Supreme Court held as follows : 14. The word "business" is, as has often been said, one of the wide import and in fiscal statutes, it must be construed in a broa....
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.... not satisfy other limb/limbs of the above definition. To illustrate, input services used in relation to setting up, modernization, renovation or repairs of a factory will be allowed as credit, even if they are assumed as not an activity relating to business as long as they are associated directly or indirectly in relation to manufacture of final products and transportation of final products upto the place of removal. This would follow from the observation of the Supreme Court in Kerala State Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd. and Ors. v. Commissioner of Income-tax - 1998 (5) SCC 48, which is as under : 7. We may notice that the provision is introduced with a view to encouraging and promoting growth of co-operative sector in the economic life of the country and in pursuance of the declared policy of the Government. The correct way of reading the different heads of exemption enumerated in the section would be to treat each as a separate and distinct head of exemption. Whenever a question arises as to whether any particular category of an income of a co-operative society is exempt from tax what has to be seen is whether income fell within any of the several heads of exem....
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....er Rule 2(l) of the 2004 Rules. xxxxx 34. Therefore, the definition of input service read as a whole makes it clear that the said definition not only covers services, which are used directly or indirectly in or in relation to the manufacture of final product, but also includes other services, which have direct nexus or which are integrally connected with the business of manufacturing the final product. In the facts of the present case, use of the outdoor catering services is integrally connected with the business of manufacturing cement and therefore, credit of service tax paid on outdoor catering services would be allowable. 35. The argument of the Revenue, that the expression "such as" in the definition of input service is exhaustive and is restricted to the services named therein, is also devoid of any merit, because, the substantive part of the definition of 'input service' as well as the inclusive part of the definition of 'input service' purport to cover not only services used prior to the manufacture of final products, subsequent to the manufacture of final products but also services relating to the business such as accounting, auditing..... etc. T....
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....ces given as example but other services of activities of business are also covered by the definition. It is also contended that by use of words, 'directly or indirectly and in or in relation to' the/manufacture of the final products the scope is further widened. All the contentions of the assesee are emphasizing this basic argument The case laws cited by the assesee in this regard are also related to the same issue that the words "such as", expand the scope of definition, and not restrict it. The dictionary meanings of the: word given by them also highlight the same. On examining this contention against the allegation in the notice and analysis of the definition done above, it is seen that the notice does not delve on the restrictive meaning of the term such as, as mis-conceived by the assessee, and does not allege that only the services as actually mentioned in the definition are covered, but, the notice alleges that only those services which are of ejusdem generic to the given example covered. Thus, the services which are used by the assesee which not in conformity -with the genre created by the services given as example in the definition are proposed for disqualification....
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....elfare of the employees, indirectly promoting the business, or even if the expense 1 on that account forms part of the cost of the product, if the service does not fall in the ambit of the definition for qualification, the credit can not be allowed. On the same lines, even if the Income Tax Act treats the expenses towards these services as expenditure for the purpose of income tax calculations, they can not automatically qualify as input service without answering to the definition given under the Cenvat Credit Rules. 26. A few case laws have been cited by the assesee in support of their case which hold that particular services such as Telephone and mobile phone, courier services, repairs / maintenance, labour etc. are input services. However, the case laws are subjective and naturally cover particular circumstances of the appellants of those cases, and can not be said to have, hard and fast universal applicability without regard to the individual circumstances. In the assesee's case, services availed have not been shown to be fully rendering only those activities which are in or in relation, either directly or indirectly, to manufacture and clearance their final produc....