Cenvat credit on imported goods accepted with endorsed bill of entry and importer invoice as valid documents.

Cenvat credit may be claimed on imported goods where the recipient holds an endorsed bill of entry showing receipt of duty-paid goods and establishes the duty incidence. The endorsed bill of entry was treated as a valid credit document under the applicable rules, and credit was not denied merely because the document stood endorsed in favour of the recipient. An importer's invoice containing the relevant duty particulars was also accepted as a valid supporting document. On these facts, the credit claim was upheld.

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Issues: (i) Whether Cenvat credit was admissible on imported goods on the strength of an endorsed bill of entry. (ii) Whether importer's invoice, along with the endorsed bill of entry, constituted a valid document for availing Cenvat credit.

Issue (i): Whether Cenvat credit was admissible on imported goods on the strength of an endorsed bill of entry.

Analysis: The dispute was confined to the validity of the endorsed bill of entry as a document for Cenvat credit. The order notes that the question had already been settled by earlier decisions recognising that credit is not denied merely because the bill of entry stands endorsed in favour of the recipient, where the goods were received and duty incidence was established. The endorsed document remained sufficient evidence for the purpose of credit under the applicable credit rules.

Conclusion: The endorsed bill of entry was held to be a valid basis for availing Cenvat credit, and the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether importer's invoice, along with the endorsed bill of entry, constituted a valid document for availing Cenvat credit.

Analysis: Independently of the endorsement on the bill of entry, the record showed that the respondent had also received the importer's invoice containing the relevant duty particulars. That invoice was treated as a valid document under the credit rules. Since the credit claim was supported by both the endorsed bill of entry and the importer's invoice, the challenge to credit failed on this ground as well.

Conclusion: The importer's invoice was accepted as a valid supporting document, and this issue was also decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The credit claim was upheld in full, and the Revenue's challenge to the impugned order did not succeed.

Ratio Decidendi: Cenvat credit cannot be denied where the recipient establishes receipt of duty-paid imported goods through an endorsed bill of entry, and the claim is further supported by a valid importer-issued invoice under the credit rules.

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