Cenvat credit for pre-amendment steel structures integral to plant and machinery remains admissible under the user test.

Cenvat credit is admissible on steel items used before 07.07.2009 to fabricate conveyor gantries, crane platforms, bag-filter and air-slide parts, cable trays, fan ducts and silos within a factory. Applying the user test, steel items used as components, accessories or supporting structures integral to plant and machinery qualify as capital goods or inputs under the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004, rather than as materials for constructing factory buildings or sheds. The 2009 amendment excluding specified structural items is not clarificatory and does not apply retrospectively to the relevant period.

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Issues: Whether Cenvat credit is admissible on steel items used before 07.07.2009 for fabrication and erection of structures, silos, components and accessories of capital goods within the factory.

Analysis: The certified use of M.S. plates, TMT bars, tor steel and angles was for fabrication of conveyor gantries, crane platforms, bag-filter parts, air-slide parts, cable trays, fan ducts and silos, and not for construction of factory buildings or sheds. Applying the user test and the principle that components, accessories and supporting structures integral to plant and machinery qualify as capital goods or inputs, such goods fell within Rules 2(a) and 2(k) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004. The 2009 amendment excluding specified structural items was not clarificatory and could not operate retrospectively for the period in dispute.

Conclusion: Cenvat credit on the disputed steel items is admissible to the assessee.

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