Refund of unutilised Cenvat credit allowed for supplies under export procurement procedure despite export documents standing in exporter's name.

Unutilised Cenvat credit was refundable under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002 where excisable goods were supplied to registered garment manufacturers/exporters under the notified export procurement procedure. The Tribunal held that the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner's certification, the manufacturers' bonds, and the export of finished goods without drawback satisfied the relevant conditions, and the assessee could not be denied refund merely because shipping bills, bills of lading and related export documents were in the garment exporters' names. Documentary requirements in Notification No. 11/2002 were treated as inapplicable because the assessee was not the direct exporter. Refund was therefore admissible.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to refund of unutilised Cenvat credit under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002 when goods were cleared to garment manufacturers/exporters under the notified export procedure, and whether failure to produce shipping bills, bill of lading and related export documents in the assessee's own name disentitled the refund.

Analysis: The goods were supplied to registered garment manufacturers under Notification No. 43/2001-CE (N.T.) dated 26.06.2001 and under the procedure governing procurement of excisable goods for manufacture of export goods. The record showed that the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner had certified the procurement, the garment manufacturers had executed bond, and the finished goods were exported by them without claiming drawback. The documentary conditions in Notification No. 11/2002 were held inapplicable to the assessee because it was not the direct exporter. The Tribunal also relied on its earlier decisions on the same issue to hold that the assessee could not be denied refund merely because the export documents stood in the name of the garment exporter.

Conclusion: The assessee was eligible for refund of unutilised Cenvat credit under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002.

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