Cenvat credit remains available when duty-paid inputs and prescribed documents reach the manufacturer, despite a transit sale route.

Cenvat credit is admissible where a manufacturer receives duty-paid inputs and the prescribed documents contemplated by Rule 9(2) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004, and maintains the required records under Rule 9(5). Rule 9(4) is a dealer-focused compliance provision and does not create an independent bar to the manufacturer's credit entitlement merely because the goods moved through an intermediate buyer. Transit sale arrangements and minor procedural lapses, without more, do not justify denial of otherwise admissible credit when the inputs and documents are actually received and used in manufacture.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit could be denied to the manufacturer when the inputs were received directly along with duty-paid documents through an intermediate buyer and whether Rule 9(4) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 applied to the manufacturer's credit entitlement.

Analysis: The credit was taken on the basis of documents contemplated by Rule 9(2) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004, and the manufacturer maintained the records required by Rule 9(5). Rule 9(4) was held to govern the dealer's obligation to maintain records, not to create an additional bar against the manufacturer where the inputs and duty-paid documents were actually received and used in manufacture. The Tribunal also relied on the principle that a transit sale arrangement and minor procedural lapses do not justify denial of otherwise admissible credit.

Conclusion: Cenvat credit could not be denied on the facts of the case, and the assessee succeeded on this issue.

Final Conclusion: The order disallowing credit was unsustainable and was set aside, with the assessee's appeal being allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Cenvat credit cannot be denied where duty-paid inputs and prescribed documents are received by the manufacturer and the manufacturer satisfies the record-keeping requirements, and Rule 9(4) operates as a dealer-centric compliance provision rather than as an independent disqualification of the manufacturer's credit.

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