Statutory benefit cannot lose out to procedural issues

The Kerala High Court held that Section 16(5) confers a statutory entitlement to ITC where the prescribed conditions are satisfied. The mere failure to file a rectification application within the time contemplated by the CBIC circular could not extinguish that substantive entitlement. Since the taxpayer had furnished the relevant returns within the cut-off contemplated under Section 16(5), the Court quashed the earlier order and directed reconsideration of the ITC claim.