Cenvat credit on reconstructed bills of entry and factory office air-conditioners remains admissible when genuineness and duty payment are established.

Cenvat credit is available on reconstructed bills of entry when the original documents are lost but the copies are authenticated by Customs and the genuineness of the duty payment is established. The age of the duty paying documents, by itself, is not a valid ground to deny credit where receipt of inputs and payment of duty are undisputed and the Cenvat Credit Rules prescribe no time limit for availing credit on inputs or capital goods. Credit is also admissible on air-conditioners installed in a factory office where the office forms part of the factory and the goods are used in relation to manufacture and business.

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Issues: (i) Whether Cenvat credit was admissible on reconstructed copies of bills of entry attested by Customs authorities; (ii) Whether credit could be denied merely because the duty paying documents were more than one year old; (iii) Whether credit on air-conditioners installed in the factory office was admissible.

Issue (i): Whether Cenvat credit was admissible on reconstructed copies of bills of entry attested by Customs authorities.

Analysis: The original documents had been lost and the reconstructed copies were authenticated as true copies by the concerned Customs officers. Once the genuineness of the documents and the duty payment stood established, the reconstructed bills of entry constituted proper duty paying documents. Credit cannot be denied merely because the documents are reconstructed copies.

Conclusion: Credit on reconstructed copies of bills of entry was admissible, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether credit could be denied merely because the duty paying documents were more than one year old.

Analysis: The receipt of inputs and the payment of duty on them were not in dispute. The applicable Cenvat Credit Rules did not prescribe any time limit for availing credit on inputs or capital goods. The age of the documents, by itself, was therefore not a valid ground for disallowance.

Conclusion: Denial of credit on the ground that the documents were more than one year old was unjustified, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether credit on air-conditioners installed in the factory office was admissible.

Analysis: The office was within the factory premises and was treated as part of the factory. The cited departmental circular recognized that goods used in an office within the factory are goods used in the factory and in relation to manufacture and business. On that basis, the air-conditioners qualified for credit.

Conclusion: Credit on air-conditioners installed in the factory office was admissible, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The impugned orders were set aside and the appeals were allowed with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Reconstructed and authenticated duty paying documents can support Cenvat credit when their genuineness and duty payment are established, and credit cannot be denied solely on the basis of the age of the documents or because goods used in an office within the factory are treated as outside the manufacturing process.

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