2026 (1) TMI 1518

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....ation of towers. Such towers are required for installing antennas and various other equipment to provide cellular telephone services. Further, "AAA" conductors are used for powering the tower equipment which is essential for rendering telecommunication services. Moreover, PSC Pole is also an essential part of the cell site. 2. An audit of the records of the Appellant was conducted for the period 2010-11 to 2012-13, basis which it was noticed that the Appellant has availed credit inter alia on items, viz. Tower material, PSC Poles and AAA conductors (collectively referred to as 'subject goods') as capital goods, which is irregular and not in accordance with the provisions of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 (hereinafter referred to as the 'C....

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.... goods under Rule 2(a)(A) or (ii) of the Credit Rules nor are they components, spares or accessories of the goods specified under the said sub-clauses. c. Towers are nothing but support structures to the antennas and therefore as per the exclusion clause under Explanation 2 to Rule 2(k) of the Credit Rules, the tower materials cannot be termed as inputs. d. As per the decision of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Bharti Airtel Ltd. v. CCE, Pune-III 2014 (35) STR 865 (Bom)., towers and parts thereof are neither capital goods nor inputs. Towers are immovable structures and ipso facto non-marketable and non-excisable. e. Further, the credit on PSC poles and AAA conductors was held to be inadmissible and no....