Customs, Excise and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT): Ashok Jindal (Judicial Member) allowed an appeal which was filed against the impugned order wherein credit had been denied on the premise as per Notification No.02/14-CE (N.T.) dt. 20-01-2014, the appellant was not entitled to credit prior to the Notification No.01/10-CE dt. 6-02-2010.
The appellant was located in the State of Jammu & Kashmir and was availing the benefit of exemption Notification No.01/10-CE dt.6-02-2010. The appellant procured certain inputs and availed credit of duty paid on these inputs. The Revenue stated that an assessee is not entitled to avail credit against the inputs issued by the units, who were availing exemption under Notification No.01/10-CE dt. 6-02-2010 and after the introduction of Notification No.02/14-CE (N.T.) dt. 20-01-2014, the notification No.01/10-CE dt. 6-02-2010 was amended thereafter the credit was available to the assessee. After adjudication, the credit availed by the appellant was denied. Counsel for the appellant also submitted that the period involved in this case was 01-08-2012 to 19-01-2014 whereas the show cause notice had been issued on 31-08-2017 by invoking the extended period of limitation.
The Tribunal observed that similarly placed assessee was allowed the credit although against those orders, the appeals had been filed by the Revenue before the Commissioner (Appeals), in that circumstance, when the Revenue was having divergent views on the issue, the extended period of limitation was not applicable.
The Tribunal allowed the appeal stating that the denial of credit was barred by limitation as the show cause notice was issued by invoking the extended period of limitation.[Pioneer Pesticides (P) Ltd. v. Commr. of CGST, 2021 SCC OnLine CESTAT 8, decided on 12-01-2021]
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