CENVAT credit cannot be denied for handwritten invoice numbers when essential particulars and goods receipt are established.

CENVAT credit cannot be denied on a purely technical objection that invoice numbers were handwritten rather than pre-printed where the document otherwise contained the prescribed particulars and the goods were received and accounted for in the recipient's books. Rule 9(2) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 requires essential invoice details and satisfaction that the goods covered by the document were actually received; it does not insist on pre-printed numbering as a condition for credit. A formal defect of numbering alone, without any defect in the invoices or in receipt of goods, is insufficient to defeat otherwise admissible credit.

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Issues: Whether CENVAT credit can be denied solely because the invoices were numbered by hand and not pre-printed, when the prescribed particulars were otherwise available and the goods were received and accounted for.

Analysis: Rule 9(2) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 permits credit where the document contains the essential particulars and the adjudicating authority is satisfied that the goods covered by the document have been received and accounted for in the recipient's books. The only discrepancy noticed was that the invoice numbers were handwritten and not pre-printed. No other defect in the invoices or in the receipt of goods was shown. The reasoning in the cited Tribunal ruling was followed to hold that the rule requires numbering of the invoice, not necessarily pre-printed numbering, and that a mere formal defect of this kind cannot defeat credit otherwise admissible.

Conclusion: CENVAT credit could not be denied merely because the invoice numbers were handwritten. The assessee was entitled to the credit.

Ratio Decidendi: Credit under Rule 9(2) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 cannot be rejected on a purely technical objection regarding pre-printed invoice numbers when the essential particulars are present and receipt and accounting of goods are established.

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