Modvat credit limitation runs from the duty-paying invoice date, not from entry in RG 23A Part I.

Modvat credit under Rule 57G had to be taken within six months from the date of the duty-paying document, and the limitation could not be extended by referring to the date of entry in RG 23A Part I. The controlling date was the invoice or other relevant duty-paying document, with the credit entry in Part II determining availing of credit, not the earlier internal accounting entry. Applying the Supreme Court ruling in Osram Surya, the credit was held time-barred and disallowance was upheld.

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Issues: Whether Modvat credit could be availed beyond six months from the date of the duty-paying invoice by reckoning the period from the date of entry of the inputs in RG 23A Part I.

Analysis: Rule 57G of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 prescribed a six-month limit for availing input credit from the date of the relevant document. The contention that the period should run from the date of entry in RG 23A Part I was rejected because the controlling date was the date of the credit entry in Part II, not the earlier internal accounting entry. The ruling of the Supreme Court in Osram Surya was treated as governing the issue and as making the invoice date decisive for the limitation period.

Conclusion: The credit was time-barred, and the disallowance was upheld against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: For Modvat credit under Rule 57G, the limitation period runs from the date of the duty-paying document, and credit cannot be taken after six months by relying on the date of entry in RG 23A Part I.

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