2008 (3) TMI 239

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....on No. 29/2000-C.E. (N.T.), dated 31-3-2000 extended deemed input credit on specified iron and steel goods subject to conditions, inter alia, that the inputs are received from the factory of the manufacturer directly under cover of an invoice declaring that appropriate duty of excise had been paid under Section 3A of the Act. The lower authorities denied the benefit of the above Notification to iron and steel products of CSH 72 received by the appellants in the month of April, 2000. A quantity of 145.176 M.Ts. of inputs involving deemed credit to the extent of Rs. 2,14,799/- had been received. The appellants had received consignments from the depots of two manufacturers. The lower authorities have denied the benefit of notification for the ....

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....l & Chemical Industries v. CC, Mumbai [2001 (129) E.L.T. 278 (S.C.)], wherein the Apex Court had ruled that notification had to be construed reasonably and rationally and not in a manner which deprives the benefit thereof. Judgment of the Gujarat High Court in Vimal Enterprise v. UOI [2006 (195) E.L.T. 267 (Guj.)] was cited to support the claim that the implementing authority should endeavour to make the Modvat scheme effective. It was held that if transaction was genuine, identity of supplier of inputs was established, the documents showing duty payment was supported by facts and the records of supplier of inputs showed that he had purchased the duty paid goods/inputs before resale and passed on the credit due thereon, credit could not be ....

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....of final products who purchased inputs from manufacturers who had followed the procedure laid down under Section 3A of the Act till 31-3-2000. A condition deliberately designed to ensure that the benefit reached the target trade cannot be diluted by reading it down with the aid of case law dealing with cases not exactly similar. If it was enough that the authorities could allow credit on satisfaction of duty paid nature of the inputs, it was not necessary to enact the above condition, in the notification. No discretion is given to the authorities in this regard. In view of the nature of the conditions involved a pure literal construction is obviously warranted. It is not a case where implementing the plain meaning of the language led to abs....