Prompt availment of Cenvat credit required on receipt of inputs; delayed credit beyond the rule's meaning was disallowed.

Rule 4(1) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002 required credit on inputs to be taken immediately on receipt in the factory, so delayed availment after several months was not permissible. The expression "immediately" had to be given its ordinary meaning of prompt action without avoidable delay and could not be expanded into a six-month window from the earlier regime. The contemporaneous circular did not authorise later availment; rather, it supported taking credit at the earliest opportunity. On that basis, Cenvat credit taken belatedly was disallowed and the assessee's claim was rejected.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit on inputs could be taken long after receipt of the inputs, and whether the expression "immediately on receipt" in Rule 4(1) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002 permitted availment of credit after a delay of several months.

Analysis: The relevant rule required credit to be taken immediately on receipt of inputs in the factory. The earlier six-month embargo under the old regime had been replaced by this condition, and the expression "immediately" could not be mechanically expanded into a six-month period. The contemporaneous circular did not authorise availment at any time up to six months; on the contrary, it indicated that credit should be taken at the earliest opportunity when inputs were received. Reading a six-month period into the rule would render the statutory words meaningless.

Conclusion: Delayed availment of Cenvat credit beyond the permissible prompt period was not allowable, and the disallowance of credit was upheld against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a fiscal rule requires credit to be taken "immediately on receipt" of inputs, the expression must be given its ordinary meaning of prompt action without avoidable delay, and it cannot be stretched to substitute a different time limit not found in the statute or rules.

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