Deemed Modvat credit depends on invoice declarations, and denial was unwarranted where notification conditions were satisfied.

Deemed Modvat credit under Notification No. 58/97-C.E. could not be denied merely because the supplier had not discharged excise duty where the invoices contained the declaration that duty liability would be paid under Rule 96ZP(3). The lower appellate authority and the Tribunal accepted that the requisite invoice declaration satisfied the notification's conditions for availing deemed credit. The High Court found no legal infirmity in that approach and held that no substantial question of law arose under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944. On the facts found, denial of deemed credit was not justified.

---

---

Issues: Whether deemed Modvat credit under Notification No. 58/97-C.E. could be denied merely because the supplier had not paid excise duty, where the invoices contained the declaration that duty liability was to be discharged under Rule 96ZP(3).

Analysis: The claim for credit was examined with reference to the declaration on the invoices and the scheme of deemed credit under the relevant notification. The finding accepted by the lower appellate authority and the Tribunal was that the invoices bore the requisite declaration, and that such declaration was sufficient for availing deemed credit under the notification. In the appeal, no legal infirmity in that view was shown so as to give rise to a substantive question of law under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Conclusion: The denial of deemed Modvat credit was not justified on the facts found, and no substantial question of law arose for consideration.

---