Modvat credit cannot be denied for customer-copy invoices where duty-paid particulars are complete under amended Rule 57G.

Amended Modvat credit rules under Rule 57G were applied to hold that credit cannot be denied merely because duty-paying invoices were marked as "customer's copy" if they contained the required particulars. The amendment was treated as applicable to pending cases, and credit was supported where duty payment on inputs and their use in manufacture were undisputed. The commentary notes that the invoice defect alone was insufficient to reject credit under the revised scheme.

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Issues: Whether credit was admissible on invoices marked as customer's copy in view of the amended Rule 57G of the Central Excise Rules.

Analysis: The amendment to Rule 57G provided that credit would not be denied if the duty paying documents contained all required particulars, and the benefit of the amendment extended to pending cases. Duty payment on the inputs and their use in manufacture were not disputed. The period in dispute was 1994, when the invoice system was newly introduced, and the defect relied upon was only that the invoices were marked as customer's copy.

Conclusion: Credit could not be denied on that ground, and the assessee was entitled to the credit of Rs. 2,21,974/-.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded to the extent of the credit denied on customer-copy invoices, while the separate challenge relating to the other credit did not survive for adjudication before the Tribunal.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the amended Modvat provisions treat duty paying documents as sufficient if they contain the requisite particulars, credit cannot be denied merely because an invoice is marked as customer's copy, especially in a pending case and where duty payment and use of inputs are undisputed.

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