ORDER
Moheb Ali M., Member (T)
1. The appeal came up for admission on 22.10.2003. The appellant in his written communication dt. 22.10.2003 has requested the court to decide the case Ex-parte. After hearing the Ld. DR it is decided that the main appeal itself can be disposed off, thus the appeal is admitted and disposed of in this order.
2. Briefly the facts are that the appellant manufacture castings. They avail of the credit of duty paid on inputs under Rule 57A of the Central Excise Rules 1944. They despatch the partially processed castings for job work out side the premises. As the time of despatch of such castings they debit the credit taken on the inputs and take back the credit when the processed castings were received back into the factory. In the present case before me, while receiving the castings back from the job worker they have lost the duplicate copy of the challan. As per the rules credit can be taken only on the strength of duplicate copy the loss of which has resulted in denial of credit. The Commissioner (Appeals) impugned order deals with this issue. The Ld. Commissioner (A) argued that since the duplicate copy of the challan is not lost in transit but is lost in the appellant’s office, credit cannot be allowed on the strength of a triplicate copy.
3. The appellants argued that the fact of receipt of the inputs back into their unit is not disputed, the loss of duplicate copy whether in transit or in office or anywhere else should not result in denial of modvat credit, I observe that the issue as to what exactly “lost in transit” means is covered by a larger bench decision in the case of [CCE, New Delhi v. Avis Electronics Pvt. Ltd., 2000 (117) ELT 571 (Tribunal-LB)].
4. Heard both sides. Respectfully following the larger bench decision on this issue I hold that lost in transit does not mean that the document should be lost only in transit. If it is misplaced before the authorities have had occasion to scrutinize it is deemed to have been lost. In the present case it is only a procedural lapse that the duplicate copy is not available for taking credit. Modvat credit cannot be denied where all other factors amply establish that the credit is indeed due to a manufacturer. The appellants are allowed to take credit on the strength of a Triplicate copy. The appeal is allowed with consequential relief if any, in accordance with law.