Cenvat credit entitlement upheld despite missing provider registration on invoices; credit allowed and order set aside.

Entitlement to Cenvat credit was confirmed where the recipient produced evidence that service tax on input services was paid and the service provider's registration number was available on record, notwithstanding its omission on invoices. The tribunal treated the non mentioning of the provider's registration as a procedural irregularity attributable to the service provider and held that such procedural lapses cannot defeat the recipient's substantive right to credit; consequence: cenvat credit allowed and the impugned order set aside with consequential relief.

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Issues: Whether appellant is entitled to avail Cenvat credit on input service invoices which did not mention the service provider's service tax registration number at the time of issuance, when the registration numbers were subsequently produced and there is no dispute on receipt and use of the input services.

Analysis: The issue arises under Rule 2(l) and Rule 14 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 and Sections 72A, 73(1) and 75 of the Finance Act, 1994 as invoked in the adjudication. The dispute is limited to procedural non-compliance (non-mentioning of service tax registration number on invoices) while the service usage for providing taxable output service and payment of service tax on such input services are not disputed. Prior decisions of the Tribunal (including A.P. Fashion Pvt. Ltd. and Kemwell Biopharma Pvt. Ltd.) are treated as precedent for the proposition that omission of registration number on invoices is a procedural irregularity and does not defeat the substantive entitlement to Cenvat credit where registration details are available and the input services are received and used for taxable output service. The adjudicating authority's denial of credit based solely on omission of registration numbers in invoices is therefore examined in light of the admitted receipt and utilisation of input services and production of registration numbers to the department.

Conclusion: The appellant is entitled to avail and retain the Cenvat credit in respect of the input service invoices in question; the impugned order denying credit on the sole ground of non-mentioning of service provider registration numbers is set aside and the appeal is allowed in favour of the assessee.

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