Home Case Index All Cases Central Excise Central Excise + AT Central Excise - 2020 (11) TMI AT This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2020 (11) TMI 725 - CESTAT KOLKATACENVAT Credit - LAM ( Low Ash Metallurgical) COKE - fake invoices without supply of goods - time limitation - main basis of denying the Cenvat credit to the appellants are the two letters received by the department, one from the Municipal Commissioner and the other from the Postal authorities - HELD THAT:- The best evidence would have been for departmental officers to physically visit the place and draw a panchnama after making enquiries from the locality. No such documentary evidence is there on record - The department has not denied that the dealer, M/s Dankuni Steel Ltd was registered with the jurisdictional Central Excise formation. As per extant departmental instructions the premises were required to be physically inspected within 5 days of granting registration. It has to be presumed that these instructions were duly followed. In that case it has to be assumed that during the relevant period the dealer was operating from the registered premises. The dealer has clarified that their head office was at Bentinck Street and this was duly indicated in all the disputed invoices. The department has not denied the existence of the dealer at the Bentinck Street address - Hence, the material available on record can at most arouse suspicion, but suspicion, however strong, cannot replace proof/evidence. The department has made no enquiries to ascertain whether the disputed quantity of LAM Coke had been received in the appellants’ factory or not. A proper stock-taking would have revealed the true picture. But no such evidence is there. Hence, it has to be accepted that the disputed quantity of LAM Coke was actually received in the factory - The department did not also make any enquiry to determine whether the quantity of finished goods manufactured by the appellants was consistent with the consumption of the disputed quantity of inputs. The appellants had provided the Railway Receipts (RR’s) under cover of which the inputs had come. The disputed invoices have crossreferences of the corresponding RR’s. The department made no efforts to verify the genuineness of the RR’s - Hence, it cannot be said that the invoices received in the appellants’ factory were not accompanied by duty paid goods. It is also established law now that duty paid goods can be consigned directly to a buyer by the manufacturer/supplier without the goods first going to the dealer’s premises - Once it is held that the disputed quantity of goods have been duly received in the appellants factory, the cenvat credit on input service of transportation cannot also be denied. The department has not been able to make out a case for denial of Cenvat Credit - Appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.
|