GTA abatement cannot be denied for declaration on letterheads where notifications prescribe no mandatory format.

Abatement under the Goods Transport Agency service notifications could not be denied merely because the transporter's declaration of non-availment of CENVAT credit and exemption benefit was given on letterheads rather than on consignment notes. The notifications did not prescribe any mandatory format for the declaration, and there was no express requirement that it appear on each consignment note. The defect was therefore only procedural and could not override the assessee's substantive entitlement to abatement.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to abatement under the Goods Transport Agency service notifications when the transporter's declaration of non-availment of credit and exemption benefit was furnished on letterheads instead of on the consignment notes.

Analysis: The relevant notifications prescribing the abatement did not specify any mandatory format for the transporter's declaration. The declarations furnished on the transporters' letterheads certified non-availment of CENVAT credit and the benefit of the specified exemption notification. In the absence of any express statutory requirement that the declaration must appear on each consignment note, insistence on that formality was held to be unsustainable. The defect, if any, was only procedural and could not defeat the substantive entitlement to abatement.

Conclusion: The assessee was rightly allowed the abatement, and denial of the benefit on the ground that the declaration was not on the consignment notes was not justified.

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