Transitional Cenvat credit and stock verification: procedural objections cannot defeat credit once declared stock is duly verified.

Transitional Cenvat credit was treated as available where the declared stock had already been verified pursuant to remand directions. The verification report recorded only a limited discrepancy, which was subsequently reversed by the assessee, and the procedural requirement was regarded as satisfied once the stock declaration was properly checked. Further insistence on examining all records was held unwarranted because the appellate authority had gone beyond the scope of the earlier remand. On that basis, credit could not be denied merely for procedural objections after verification of the declared stock.

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Issues: Whether transitional Cenvat credit could be denied for alleged non-compliance with the prescribed declaration procedure, and whether the departmental authorities could insist on further verification after the stock had already been verified pursuant to the earlier remand.

Analysis: The matter had earlier been remanded only for actual verification of the stock lying in the factory, and the legal issue regarding entitlement to credit had already been settled. The stock declaration filed by the assessee was verified by the Range Superintendent, and the verification report recorded only a limited discrepancy which was reversed by the assessee. In these circumstances, the insistence on further verification of all records was held to be unwarranted, and the appellate authority was found to have travelled beyond the scope of the earlier remand. The procedural requirement for transitional credit was treated as satisfied once the declared stock had been properly verified.

Conclusion: Transitional Cenvat credit could not be denied, and the assessee was held entitled to the credit.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the declared stock is duly verified in accordance with the remand directions, transitional credit cannot be denied merely on the ground of procedural objections or insistence on further verification beyond the remand scope.

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