Custom, Excise & Service Tax Tribunal
Prabhat Zarda Factory Pvt Lts vs Noida on 6 August, 2019
CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
ALLAHABAD
REGIONAL BENCH - COURT No. I
Excise Appeal No.71255 of 2018-Single Member
(Arising out of Order-in-Appeal No. NOIDA-EXCUS-001-APP-1740-17-18
dated 23/02/2018 passed by Commissioner of Central Tax (Appeals) Noida)
M/s Prabhat Zarda Factory (l) Pvt. Ltd. .....Appellant
(E 60-64, Sector-8, Noida)
VERSUS
Assistant Commissioner of
Central Excise, Noida ....Respondent
(Div. IV, Noida-I, C-56/42, Sector-62, Noida) APPEARANCE:
Request for Adjournment for the Appellant Shri Santosh Kumar Agarwal, Authorised Representative for the Respondent CORAM:
HON'BLE SMT. ARCHANA WADHWA, MEMBER (JUDICIAL) FINAL ORDER NO. - 71522 / 2019 Date of Hearing : 06 August, 2019 Date of Decision : 06 August, 2019 PER: ARCHANA WADHWA After rejecting the request for adjournment, I proceed to decide the appeal itself inasmuch a short issue is involved. Accordingly, I have heard learned A.R. appearing for the Revenue and have gone through the impugned orders.
2. The appellant is engaged in the manufacture of Chewing Tobacco. They were issued a show cause notice proposing denial of Cenvat credit of service tax of Rs.49,349/- in respect of repair Excise Appeal No.71255 of 2018-Single Member 2 & maintenance of lifts. Further the notice proposed to deny the Cenvat credit of Rs.3,99,228/- in respect of the services given by M/s BLS Detective Services Pvt. Ltd. for surveying the market and organizing raids at various premises to detect and prevent marketing of spurious duplicate of their products.
3. Said notice culminated into an order passed by the Original Adjudicating Authority confirming the demand and imposing penalties. On appeal Commissioner (Appeals) allowed the benefit of Cenvat credit of Rs.49,349/- in respect of repair and maintenance of lifts, which were being used by the appellant for movement of the goods. However, he denied the credit relatable to the detective services received by them. Hence the present appeal.
4. The only issue required to be decided is as to whether the service tax paid by the appellant to M/s BLS Detective Services Pvt. Ltd. in respect of the services received by them would be admissible as a credit to the appellant or not. The said services so received by the appellant were for surveying the market and pointing out the manufacturer and clearance of the appellant's spurious products. Admittedly the said services are in relation to the appellant's business.
On going through the definition of services as defined under Rule 2(l) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, I find that the same takes into its ambit the services used by the manufacturer directly or indirectly for manufacture as well as for clearance of the final product. The inclusive part of the said definition referred to the services used for market research as well as activities relating to business. The said definition is not exhaustive and is inclusive definition. Even if the inclusive part of the definition is considered, the services relating to market research have been held as admissible Cenvatable input services.
The services obtained by the appellant from M/s BLS Detective Services Pvt. Ltd. are nothing but market research Excise Appeal No.71255 of 2018-Single Member 3 services. The same are for the purpose of surveying the market for finding out the various units who were engaged in manufacturing appellant's spurious products and marketing the same. Admittedly said activity has a relation with the business activities of the appellant and there is direct nexus with the appellant's business activities. As such, I am of view, that the Cenvat credit is admissible to the appellant.
5. In view of the foregoing, impugned order is set aside and appeal is allowed with consequential relief to the appellant.
(Dictated and pronounced in open court) Sd/-
(Archana Wadhwa) Member (Judicial) Lks