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2020 (9) TMI 695 - CESTAT KOLKATAIrregular availment of CENVAT Credit - contravention to Rule 15(2) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 read with Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944 - demand based on various statements - reliability on Chartered Engineer’s Certificate - discrepancies pointed out by the department with regard to the “Transportation of Goods” from the factory of M/s.Industrial Associates to the factory of the appellant - Failure to Produce Documents - non-appearance against summons - HELD THAT:- The inputs received by the appellants were duly entered in their RG-23A Part-I for the period from August, 2008 to January, 2009 and such records were subject to scrutiny by their jurisdictional Central Excise Officers and the credits were being availed with the knowledge of the Revenue and by reflecting the inputs in the records. In such a scenario, it is a difficult proposition to come to a finding that all the inputs received by the appellants, which have been utilized in the manufacture of their final product, were not actually received by the appellants. The appellants received the goods in their factory under cover of the Central Excise invoices issued by M/s.Industrial Associates. The concerned staff at the factory gate puts the receipt seal under his initial and affected a consolidated entry in Form-IV Register for the receipt of said inputs along with other inputs of analogous character. The credit availed by them were duly reflected in their monthly ER-I returns. They also received tax-invoice-cum-challan along with original for buyer copy of the excise invoices for inputs received from the said manufacturer. The amounts were paid by them by account payee cheques/RTGS. VAT were also reflected in the invoices raised by the said company. The transportation costs were paid by them to the vehicle drivers/owners under the cash vouchers. The appellants have admittedly manufactured their final product by using the said inputs and the final products stands cleared by them on payment of duty. The final product cannot be manufactured out of nothing and obviously requires inputs. There is no iota of evidence produced by the Revenue to reflect upon the fact as to from where the appellants have procured such a huge quantity of inputs used by them in the manufacture of their final product. As such, there is a lacuna in the Revenue’s investigations to that extent also. The Tribunal had come to a finding that the assessee in fact had received the goods covered under the disputed invoices inasmuch as the Revenue has not brought any tangible evidence to prove nonreceipt of the goods by the respondent - it is undisputed fact that all the purchases were duly recorded in the statutory books of the appellant and the goods were also found to be entered in statutory records of the appellant. None of the consignors of the goods have denied the clearance of the goods to the appellant. There is no evidence which can show that the records maintained by the appellant are not correct. The order for disallowance of credit to the appellant is not sustainable - in the absence of any cogent evidence, the demands are not sustainable, as a consequence, the penalties imposed on both the appellants are also not sustainable and are accordingly set aside - appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.
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