Cenvat credit on Cargo Sales Reports was upheld where underlying Air Way Bills satisfied invoice requirements.

Cenvat credit could not be denied merely because it was booked through Cargo Sales Reports where those reports only consolidated underlying Air Way Bills containing the particulars required under the service tax rules. The Air Way Bills satisfied the essential invoice requirements, and the Department did not dispute that the credit represented tax actually suffered or that the figures matched the underlying documents. The procedural requirement was therefore substantially met, and minor documentary inadequacy could not override the substantive entitlement to credit. On that basis, the credit and its utilisation were treated as proper and the demand failed.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit could be denied merely because it was availed on Cargo Sales Reports, when those reports were only summaries of Air Way Bills containing the particulars required under the service tax and Cenvat credit rules.

Analysis: The Cargo Sales Report was not itself a specified document under Rule 9 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004, but it merely consolidated the underlying Air Way Bills. The Air Way Bills contained the essential particulars of an invoice or bill under Rule 4A of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, including the identity of the service provider and recipient, taxable value, and service tax amount. Since the Department did not dispute that the credit represented tax actually suffered on the underlying Air Way Bills or that the amounts tallied with those documents, the assessee's accounting entry through a consolidated Cargo Sales Report amounted to credit taken on the Air Way Bills themselves. The procedural requirement was substantially satisfied, and minor documentary inadequacy could not defeat credit where the substantive conditions were met.

Conclusion: Cenvat credit could not be denied on the ground that it was booked through Cargo Sales Reports based on Air Way Bills; the credit and its utilisation were held to be proper and the demand failed.

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