Deemed Modvat credit requires prescribed duty-payment declaration on invoices; unsupported challans are insufficient, while officer certificates need verification.

Deemed Modvat credit under Notification No. 58/97-C.E. (N.T.) required an invoice from the input-manufacturer containing the prescribed declaration that duty had been discharged under Rule 96ZP(3) read with Section 3A. Invoices lacking that declaration, and unsupported photocopies of TR-6 challans, were insufficient to establish duty payment for deemed credit. Certificates issued by jurisdictional Central Excise Range Officers for two manufacturers were treated as relevant evidence and required fresh examination by the competent appellate authority, while the remaining claim also depended on similar proof. Credit could not be granted on unsupported invoices or challans alone.

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Issues: Whether deemed Modvat credit under Notification No. 58/97-C.E. (N.T.) was admissible when the invoices issued by the input-manufacturers did not contain the required declaration of duty payment, and whether the certificates from the jurisdictional Central Excise Range Officers required fresh consideration.

Analysis: The notification made the invoice issued by the input-manufacturer a necessary duty-paying document and required a declaration that duty had been discharged under Rule 96ZP(3) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 read with Section 3(A) of the Central Excise Act. Since the invoices in question lacked that declaration, photocopies of TR-6 challans were held insufficient to establish duty payment for the purpose of deemed credit. At the same time, certificates issued by the jurisdictional Range Officers in respect of two manufacturers constituted relevant evidence of duty payment and had to be examined by the competent appellate authority. The remaining claim also depended on similar proof, and credit could not be granted merely on the basis of unsupported invoices or challans.

Conclusion: Deemed Modvat credit was not admissible on the strength of invoices lacking the prescribed declaration and unsupported challans, but the matter was remanded for fresh consideration of the certificates produced in respect of two manufacturers and for any further proof, if available, regarding the remaining manufacturers.

Ratio Decidendi: For deemed Modvat credit under the notification, the prescribed invoice and declaration of duty payment were essential, and absent such declaration, credit could be allowed only on reliable evidence of duty payment duly verified by the competent authority.

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