Cenvat credit cannot be denied for delay alone when the rule prescribes no limitation period for availment.

Rule 4 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 does not prescribe a fixed time limit for availing credit of additional customs duty. Credit cannot be denied merely because it was taken after a long delay where the duty-paid inputs were received and used in manufacture, and the delay resulted only from an inadvertent omission. The provision was treated as pari materia with the earlier Central Excise credit rule, under which limitation could not be implied when the rule itself contained none. On that basis, denial of Cenvat credit on the ground of delay was held unsustainable, and the assessee was entitled to avail the credit.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit of additional customs duty could be denied merely because it was taken after a long delay, when Rule 4 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 does not prescribe any time limit for availment of credit.

Analysis: Rule 4 requires credit to be taken on receipt of inputs, but it does not create a fixed period of limitation for availing credit. The provision was treated as pari materia to the earlier rule governing credit under the Central Excise regime, under which limitation could not be implied where the rule itself did not provide one. Since the duty-paid inputs were received and used in manufacture, and the omission to take credit earlier was only an inadvertent mistake, denial of the credit on the ground of delay was not justified.

Conclusion: The denial of Cenvat credit was unsustainable and the assessee was entitled to take the credit.

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