CENVAT credit on travel tickets upheld where invoices and e-tickets sufficiently proved tax payment and receipt of service.

CENVAT credit on travel-related services is admissible where the invoice issued by the travel agent, together with the e-ticket, shows that service tax was paid by the airline and the service was actually received. Minor defects in the form of the supporting documents do not defeat credit when the substantive conditions are satisfied and the tax incidence has been borne. Rule 9(2) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 was applied on this substantive-compliance basis, so documentary irregularities alone were treated as insufficient to deny credit.

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Issues: Whether CENVAT credit was admissible on the basis of invoices issued by the travel agent along with the e-ticket showing service tax paid by the airline, under Rule 9(2) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004.

Analysis: The appellant's travel was evidenced by the e-ticket, and the service tax had been paid on that ticket by the airline. The Tribunal held that the supporting invoices and e-ticket constituted sufficient documentary basis for credit, and that minor inadequacies in the form of the document could not defeat substantive entitlement where the tax incidence was borne and the service was received. Reliance was placed on the settled principle that procedural requirements in credit documents should not be applied so rigidly as to deny credit on insubstantial grounds.

Conclusion: CENVAT credit was admissible to the appellant on the invoices and e-ticket under Rule 9(2) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004.

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