2014 (1) TMI 1475 - ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT

Availment of CENVAT Credit - Reasonable steps / care to be taken before availing Cenvat Credit - Duty paying documents - Violation of the provisions of Rule 3, 9(3) & Rule 7 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 - Held that:- both the Commissioner (Appeals) and the Tribunal have given cogent reasons to indicate that the assessee had taken reasonable steps to ensure that the inputs in respect of which he has taken the cenvat credit are goods on which the appropriate duty of excise, as indicated in the documents accompanying the goods, has been paid. Admittedly, in the present case, the assessee was a bona fide purchaser of the goods for a price which included the duty element and payment was made by cheque. The assessee had received the inputs which were entered in the statutory records maintained by the assessee.

The goods were demonstrated to have travelled to the premises of the assessee under the cover of Form 31 issued by the Trade Tax Department, and the ledger account as well as the statutory records establish the receipt of the goods. In such a situation, it would be impractical to require the assessee to go behind the records maintained by the first stage dealer. The assessee, in the present case, was found to have duly acted with all reasonable diligence in its dealings with the first stage dealer - Decided against Revenue.