Cenvat credit on notarized bill of entry copy upheld where duty payment and receipt of goods were otherwise established.

Cenvat credit could not be denied merely because the bill of entry for imported inputs and capital goods received through courier was produced as a notarized certified copy rather than the original. Rule 7(1) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002 permits credit on the basis of a bill of entry as a duty-paying document and does not require a rigid form. As the goods were duty paid, received in the factory, and used in or in relation to manufacture of excisable goods, the substantive conditions for credit were satisfied. The technical objection to document form alone was therefore insufficient to deny credit.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit could be denied merely because the bill of entry for imported inputs and capital goods received through courier agencies was a notarized certified copy instead of the original bill of entry.

Analysis: Rule 7(1) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002 permits availment of credit on the basis of a bill of entry as a duty-paying document and does not prescribe any rigid form that the bill of entry must take. The inputs and capital goods were duty paid, received in the factory, and used in or in relation to manufacture of excisable goods, and those substantive facts were not in dispute. A notarized certified copy of the courier bill of entry was therefore treated as sufficient for the purpose of credit, and credit could not be denied on this technical objection alone.

Conclusion: The denial of Cenvat credit was unsustainable, and the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the substantive conditions for Cenvat credit are satisfied, credit cannot be denied solely because the bill of entry is produced in notarized certified copy form, if the document otherwise establishes duty payment and receipt of goods.

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