Modvat Credit cannot be denied for minor invoice defects where the stricter copy requirement was introduced later.

Modvat credit could not be denied for invoices marked by hand as "duplicate for transporter" where the relevant period preceded the later amendment requiring credit to be taken on a specified invoice copy. Minor omissions in invoice particulars were treated as curable procedural defects, and the invoices otherwise remained valid duty-paid documents. The denial of credit was therefore unsustainable because the governing rule in force at the time did not impose the stricter formality later introduced.

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Issues: Whether Modvat Credit could be denied on invoices marked by hand as "duplicate for transporter" and on the basis of minor omissions in the invoice particulars for the period prior to the amendment of the credit-taking rule.

Analysis: The relevant period was October and November 1994. The requirement of taking credit on a particular invoice copy was introduced only later by amendment to the Central Excise Rules, and the invoices in question were therefore treated as valid documents for Modvat Credit. The remaining defects in the invoices, such as absence of certain particulars, were regarded as curable and procedural in nature and not sufficient to deny a substantive credit benefit.

Conclusion: Modvat Credit could not be denied on these grounds, and the disallowance was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Credit under the Modvat scheme cannot be rejected for minor procedural defects where the governing rule for the relevant period did not require the stricter formality subsequently introduced and the invoices otherwise served as valid duty-paid documents.

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