Excise credit limitation runs from actual receipt of supporting certificate, not earlier supplier procurement date

Excise credit could not be denied merely because the supporting certificate had been obtained by the supplier earlier, where the assessee received it only later and took credit within six months of actual receipt. The court treated the relevant date as the date on which the certificate was actually received by the assessee, not the earlier date of issue or procurement by the supplier. On that basis, the reference questions were held not to arise for consideration, the credit was not disallowed, and the challenge to the Tribunal's order failed.

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Issues: Whether credit could be denied on the ground that the duty-paying document was older than six months when the certificate was received by the assessee later, and whether the reference questions survived for answer.

Analysis: The materials were supplied with a certificate obtained by the supplier, but the certificate had not been dispatched to the assessee until much later. The credit was taken within six months from the date of actual receipt of the certificate. In these circumstances, fault could not be found with the assessee for availing credit on the basis of the certificate when it was first received, and the referred questions were treated as not arising for consideration.

Conclusion: The credit was not disallowed on the stated ground, and the reference was declined without answering the questions.

Final Conclusion: The proceeding ended with no answer to the referred questions, and the challenge to the Tribunal's order failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a certificate supporting excise credit is received by the assessee only later, the limitation for availing credit is to be assessed with reference to the date of actual receipt of the certificate, not the earlier date on which it was obtained by the supplier.

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