Proforma credit limitation turns on timely intimation, with late duty documents treated as procedural and remand for verification.

A claim for proforma credit of countervailing duty was treated as not time-barred where the assessee had filed D-3 intimations within time and had not taken credit unilaterally. The later production of duty-paying documents was regarded as a procedural requirement under the Trade Notice, not a condition that extinguished the claim, and the limitation objection under Section 11B was rejected. The supporting documents and their correlation with the imported goods were nevertheless left for factual verification, so the matter was remanded to the Assistant Collector for that limited purpose.

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Issues: (i) Whether the assessee's claim for proforma credit/set-off of countervailing duty was barred by limitation because the duty-paying documents were produced beyond the period prescribed in the Trade Notice; (ii) Whether the matter required remand for verification of the duty-paying documents and their correlation with the goods.

Issue (i): Whether the assessee's claim for proforma credit/set-off of countervailing duty was barred by limitation because the duty-paying documents were produced beyond the period prescribed in the Trade Notice.

Analysis: The assessee had filed the D-3 intimations within time and had not taken credit on its own. The Trade Notice treated production of duty-paying documents as a procedural requirement and also contemplated extension in exceptional circumstances. The later production of the documents did not alter the fact that the claim had already been asserted in time through the D-3 intimations. The cited High Court decision under a different credit scheme was distinguished.

Conclusion: The claim was not barred by limitation and the objection under Section 11B of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 was rejected.

Issue (ii): Whether the matter required remand for verification of the duty-paying documents and their correlation with the goods.

Analysis: The Department's objection that the documents could not be correlated was left to factual verification. Since the core limitation issue was answered in favour of the assessee, the proper course was to have the Assistant Collector verify the documents already produced and ascertain their correlation with the imported goods.

Conclusion: The matter was remanded to the Assistant Collector for verification.

Final Conclusion: The assessee succeeded on the question of limitation, but the entitlement to credit was left to factual verification on remand.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a claim for proforma credit is asserted within time through the prescribed intimation and the later production of duty-paying documents is a procedural matter, delay in furnishing those documents does not by itself bar the claim; the documents may still be verified on remand.

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