Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited Vs Commissioner of GST and Central Excise (CESTAT Chennai)
The appeal before the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Chennai was filed by a paper manufacturing company against Order-in-Appeal dated 13 December 2017 passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), Tiruchirappalli, which had upheld the adjudication order disallowing CENVAT credit and confirming recovery with interest and penalty.
The appellant is engaged in the manufacture of printing and writing paper under Chapter 48 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 and was registered with the Central Excise Department. It was availing CENVAT credit on inputs, capital goods and input services under the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004.
During departmental audit, it was noticed that the appellant had availed CENVAT credit amounting to ₹42,76,051 during January and February 2015 on the basis of four invoices or bills of entry that had been issued prior to 1 September 2014. According to the department, the credit had been availed beyond six months from the date of the invoices. The department alleged that this contravened the proviso to Rule 4(7) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, inserted through Notification No. 21/2014-CE (NT) dated 11.07.2014. with effect from 1 September 2014, which introduced a time limit of six months for availing credit.
