CENVAT credit on supplier invoices cannot be denied without proof that the supplier was actually under Section 3A.

CENVAT credit on waste and scrap invoices could not be denied merely because the supplier was alleged to be governed by Section 3A, where there was no evidence that the supplier was in fact under that regime. The Tribunal held that the recipient unit's authorities could not reopen or question the supplier's assessment position at the recipient's end, and no material showed that the supplier's invoices were invalid for credit purposes. On that basis, the disallowance of credit was unsustainable and the assessee succeeded.

---

---

Issues: Whether the recipient unit could be denied credit on waste and scrap invoices on the premise that the supplier was allegedly governed by Section 3A and the invoices were therefore invalid.

Analysis: The credit dispute turned on the status of the supplying unit and the validity of the duty-paid documents issued from that end. The Tribunal held that the authorities at the recipient's end had no power to reopen or question the assessment position of the supplier unit in the absence of evidence that the supplier was actually operating under Section 3A. It was also noted that no material had been produced to establish that the supplier's invoices were invalid for credit purposes.

Conclusion: The credit could not be disallowed on this ground, and the assessee succeeded.

---