Input tax credit cannot be denied to a bona fide purchasing...

Input tax credit cannot be denied to a bona fide purchasing dealer merely because the supplier failed to deposit the tax collected, where the purchaser dealt with a registered supplier and complied with statutory requirements. The Department's remedy lies against the defaulting supplier, not by imposing vicarious liability on the purchaser or raising a consequential demand against a genuine transaction. The denial may still be revisited if material shows the purchases were not bona fide or were entered into in collusion with the supplier; on that footing, the impugned demand order was set aside with liberty to proceed afresh in accordance with law.

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